Lost in the Sea of Serenity: An Altered Destiny
by S dot Serenity
Summary: We all are at the mercy of Fate. Even before we are born, our destinies are written in the stars. But what happens when one rearranges the stars? Full Summary Inside!
1. Prolouge

**_Title_**: Lost in the Sea of Serenity: An Altered Destiny

_**Author**_: S Dot Serenity

_**A/N**_: Konnichiwa minna!!! This is my first attempt at fanfiction stemming from a, what, 7 year hiatus? I hope you enjoy what I have so far, and as always reviews and comments are GREATLY appreciated!!

_**Disclaimer**_: I don't own Sailor Moon or any of its characters. If I did, I wouldn't be broke!

**_Summary_**: We all are at the mercy of Fate. Even before we are born, our destinies are written in the stars. But what happens when one rearranges the stars? Does everyone adjust accordingly, or is it the end of our happy endings? Old friends. New foe. Mysterious ally. A shattered crystal. Join your favorite group of super heroes as they battle a new enemy, dead set on reclaiming what is 'rightfully' theirs. With an altered destiny, who will be the victor?

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**Prolouge**

Boredom. A normal human emotion, fueled by the want to do something or witness something more interesting to satisfy a human's needs, wants, and desires. Well, at least for the time being. Boredom can easily be transformed into interest, as soon as an event or thought occurs within the head of an individual to deviate them from the mindset of the ever-present feeling of having nothing to do. Boredom can also stem from the fleeting enjoyment of duties set before an individual. Spontaneity is needed in one's life to keep an individual alert, active, and helps them maintain interest in their tasks at hand. Normal human beings would normally try their best to find something, anything to take their minds off of whatever began to bore them in the first place. Normal humans would rejoice in their newfound interest, and after fulfilling their desire for excitement, return to the responsibilities previously forgotten in their bout of exhilaration. Yes, normal human beings could easily find something to alleviate their minds from a tedious task, humans…not goddesses.

Atropos sighed in utter boredom as she stared down at the image in front of her. The image was of Earth, and all her children going about their daily lives, bustling trying to achieve goals and live the lives that they believed that they were destined to live. Atropos rolled her eyes as she thought of the never ending cycle that was considered human life: waking in the morning, going to places called schools and jobs, coming home, socializing, trying to 'find their place in society', and finally resting at the end of the day, just to wake in the morning and doing it all over again. It was always the same. Through countless millennia, it was ALWAYS the same, and Atropos thought that it was tremendously boring. How she wished she could just flick her wrist and end the annoyingly repetitive lives of all the humans on Earth, but that just was not allowed, and her sisters would ultimately pop a blood vessel.

Do not think Atropos evil in any way, maybe a bit sadistic at times, but not evil. As afore mentioned, she is a goddess. She and her two sisters, Clotho and Lachesis make up the legendary Fates. These three beautiful, immortal women along with their pupil Destiny control the lives of all beings across the galaxy. Each sister has their own part of time to control, and their own respective personalities that tend to make things pretty…interesting in their piece of the galaxy. Well, at least Clotho and Lachesis thought it was interesting.

Lachesis is the goddess of the past. Her beauty is unmistakable. With her pale skin, she seems to glow with the radiance of a thousand stars. Her blue gray eyes shine bright from behind black wire rimmed glasses, with an infinite wisdom of the workings of the universe, and her cascading silver blond locks forever remain in one long braid down her back. Yes, she is exceedingly beautiful, but incredibly reserved, which makes her the perfect one to measure the thread of life, in accordance to what events have already occurred. Though she is the middle child, she is often the voice of reason of the trio. Mysterious in stature, she most often has to separate Clotho and Atropos, who constantly bicker. Clotho often comes to her for advice on how to handle her charges, since many of their actions are stemmed from the past. Lachesis presents herself as being the most knowledgeable, but whether she is or not is highly debated among the three.

Clotho is the youngest of the three, and loves her role as being goddess of the present. The most flamboyant of the three, Clotho adores the fact that so many things are constantly changing within her realm of dominance. She often changes her appearance to try and match the times of her realm. At the moment, she donned bright red hair that stood as a startling contrast to her beautifully smooth, pale skin. Her glorious green eyes shone with a gold tint that always held a hint of amusement. Clotho loves to spin the course of a mortal's life on her spindle, taking pride in its many twists and turns. She believes the actions of the beings of the universe are incredibly amusing, especially the beings of Earth. Known for being a trickster and fun loving, she seems to always clash with her eldest and at times moody sister Atropos. They always seem to bump heads on one issue or another.

Atropos, the eldest could also be considered to be the most beautiful. She had looks that were forever changing, as the beings that resided in her realm of dominance often changed with regards to Clotho's realm. Because of this fact, her features were often switching, like an artist forever brainstorming on a blank slate. Her long brunette hair would often switch to every shade imaginable: various shades of blues, greens, and reds often graced her head, making her calve length hair even more beautiful. Her eyes that switched from blue to black to gold on a regular basis, always held a slight mischievous glint, and her cheery lips were always upturned into a cocky little smirk. Though she was the smallest in stature, she moved with an air of superiority, and Clotho hated it. In contrast to the other two, Atropos tended to dislike her job. She has never shirked her duties, but she has always wanted something more interesting to happen. She wanted to have complete control over the beings lives, but unfortunately, she had to share this duty with her sisters. Much to her delight, she is the one who decides when a mortal's life has reached it end, and with a flick of her wrist, she can easily cut their thread of life. So, one can guess what may happen if Atropos ever got too bored with an individual.

Atropos sighed again as she watched the mortals go about their daily lives. "How can these mortals go about in the same way from dawn 'til dusk and not want to die from boredom?" she asked herself. She desperately wanted to do something to change the pace of things. She smirked deviously as she wondered what would happen if she decided to tamper with Clotho's realm and kill off a couple of humans. Then, things in her realm would change, and she could possibly get some things started.

Looking around their cloud filled residence, she got up and headed over to Clotho's looking portal to Earth, her long white robe flowing behind her. With a wave of her hand, the clouds separated, revealing a young man of Earth, around 20 or 21, riding his motorcycle down some busy street in some part of the world. Atropos really didn't care about the region; she just wanted to wreck havoc.

With a small smile, she pondered aloud, "Hmmm, I wonder what might happen if his life was to end right now? Would there be terrible suffering?"

With a flick of her wrist, her golden shears with what she cut the thread of life appeared in her hand. Closing her eyes, she whispered the ancient incantation that all three sisters had memorized. Instantly, little threads of life appeared around the cloud-covered realm. There were thousands of them, millions, an insurmountable number of threads. Many of them were mainly white, which made them hard to see amongst the clouds, but to Atropos' trained eye, they stood out like a sore thumb. Quickly, Atropos scanned the threads for the particular young man's, and found it instantly without major hassle. Just as she was about to cut the thread, her sister Clotho materialized in the realm, distracting Atropos. Just as soon as the threads appeared, they vanished and left a very unhappy Atropos in its wake.

"Sister," Clotho innocently began as she sauntered up to her sister, her white robes trailing in her wake. "What on Olympia are you doing?" Atropos sneered slightly as she quickly willed her shears away. Damn you Clotho, she sneered. You always mess with my fun.

"Dear sister," Atropos said as she strode away from the portal, quickly covering it once again with the clouds, "I was just watching over the progress of your realm. I had to make sure that everything was in order so that everything in my realm functioned properly."

Clotho narrowed her eyes as she studied her sister. It was obvious that she did not believe a word that she said. Clotho knew that Atropos liked to meddle with her realm whenever she became bored with hers. Often, she would catch her pulling some kind of stunt, which seemed to liven up her futuristic realm. Sometimes, she just could not reach her in time to stop her meddling, but those times often turned out for the best anyway. Clotho decided to play along though, to see exactly where this would lead.

"Oh, Atropos? Is that all?" Clotho drawled as she conjured a chaise lounge of clouds and draped herself over it. Atropos' eyes narrowed at her sister's tone. She knew that she was toying with her.

"Yes, that is all Clotho. Is there anything else that it could have been?"

Clotho smiled slightly as she absentmindedly twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "Oh, I don't know," she said. "It just looked like you were interfering with all of my hard work in preserving the precious lives of my mortals." Clotho's eyes narrowed. "Again." A flash of anger washed over Atropos' face, but she quickly erased it and in its place, she held a snobbish air.

"Oh, quit your whining Clotho," Atropos said as she sauntered over to her own portal. "I cannot help that your own humans are bored with their own existence. After all, can you really blame them, with looking at whom the mistress of their present lives is?" Clothos silently fumed at her sister. She got up hastily and silently marched over to Atropos, looking her square in the eye. Atropos did not falter at all, in fact her smirk seemed to widen as she saw her sister's distress.

"As I recall sister," Clotho began, "If it were not for the happenings of my realm, your pathetic realm would cease to exist. No present, no future, no _anything_." Atropos seemed to size her sister up at this point. She snorted softly and dismissed her, turning towards her own portal of the future.

"That may be true, Clotho my dear," said Atropos as she gazed onto her domain, "But I can easily send a being from my realm to yours to disrupt things if I so. . . please. . .hmmm," As Atropos finished her statement, a slow smile crept along her face. [Now _there _is an idea], she thought to herself.

Clotho went pale as she recognized the devious grin on her sister's face. The last time she had that look, some poor kid in New England almost ended up being his own grandfather*.

Clotho stalked up to her sister and firmly grabbed her wrist. Atropos sneered up at Clotho, highly disgusted that she even thought to touch her in such a rough way. "Would you kindly let go of me, my sister?" Atropos managed through clenched teeth. Clotho ignored the imminent threat that was sure to come from her temperamental sister and said, "Don't you even DARE Atropos. You will not, I repeat, will NOT, disrupt the continuum just for your amusement." Atropos scoffed as she snatched her hand away. "And just who are you to stop me, little sister. I may do as I please." She turned towards her portal once again. "Besides, it is we whom control their lives, we whom decide their fate. If I choose to make a minor adjustment, then so be it." Clotho was just about to counter with an angry retort when a soft voice stopped her.

"Now what would mother think if you were to disrupt the continuum entirely for your pleasure and not the will of the greater Gods and deities Atropos?"

The two women turned to their left and saw that their sister Lachesis had materialized as the two were bickering. Lachesis strode up to her two siblings and laid a comforting hand on their shoulders, smiling softly.

"We all know our responsibilities over our domain. It is not just a hobby that we pick up then and again. This is our soul duty as was entrusted onto us by the greater Powers that Be. To disrupt their great plans would be a great dishonor to--" Lachesis stopped as she noticed Atropos silently mocking her words. She dropped her hands and narrowed her eyes. Atropos felt her stare and blushed slightly. "Honestly Atropos," Lachesis scolded as she folded her arms and headed to the bronze and iron table that held their archives of everything that has ever happened. "The way you behave, it is very hard to believe that you are the eldest of we three." Atropos mumbled something under her breath that Lachesis did not catch, as she and Clotho followed their sister who sings of the past.

At the Archive of the Bronze Table, Lachesis stood and closed her eyes, holding her arms at least five centimeters above it. Very quietly, she began to murmur the incantations to awaken the scenes of the past, present, and the determined future. The Archive of the Bronze Table has been in the hands of the Fates since The Beginning. It has in its records everything that has ever happened, is happening, or will happen in any given mortal's life. When the scenes of the table are put together, it is said that it tells the story of the Earth itself. The three sisters hold the table very dear to them, as it is the culmination of all of the dedication that they have shown throughout the millennia. Each sister often gazes upon the table for assistance as to what to plan next in the lives of the mortals, or they will use the table to just reflect, and make sure all is as it should be. If, in the rare occurrence a mistake were found on the table…well, drastic measure would have to occur because inevitable doom would surely follow.

As Lachesis chanted, the table illuminated with a soft gold glow, and one by one, small, translucent scenes appeared before the sisters. The millions of scenes swarmed around them, filling every possible space in their abode. The scenes showed all of the different beings of Earth, and exactly what they were doing at the present moment, what they had done in their past, and what they will presumably do in the future.

Clotho sighed with content as she gazed at the beings that dominated her realm, and cooed ever so often at the mortals she was more fond of. Atropos saw this and rolled her eyes, but she too gazed at the scenes before her. Even though she thought that her realm was excessively boring right now, even she had to admit that she had enjoyed some of her workings in previous years. Lachesis smiled that trademark melancholy smile of hers and gazed upon her creations. "Sister," she said, addressing Atropos, "How could you ever think of disrupting the continuum of these glorious beings' lives? Do you not see what progress we have made?" As she spoke, a small scene caught her eye of a bomb going off in the Asian region of Earth. Her eye twitched as she considered that scene.

"Or lack thereof."

Atropos sighed dramatically and put her hands on her hips, drawing the attentions of the other two. "This is true sister, but even you have to admit that these mortals really live BORING lives. And anything remotely exciting only occurs once in a millennia."

"That is not entirely true Atropos," Clotho countered. She walked to the western side of The Fates' abode and looked upon a few specific scenes. The scenes showed a group of young women and men that seemed to be enjoying each other's company. These were no ordinary individuals, however. In the scene of the present, the group seemed to be enjoying themselves at an amusement park. In a past scene, an immense battle was raging, with the group valiantly fighting against horrors that one would only see in nightmares, using super human abilities that mere mortals could only dream of. In a futuristic scene, the group was in the midst of a city made of pure crystal, living their lives to their hearts content. These individuals were no strangers to the Fates. In fact, they could easily be crowned the favorites of the three.

With a wave of her hand, Clotho brought the scenes into a much clearer focus. Now the sisters could distinctly see the group of nine young women and two men hanging out together as normal friends would. No one could mistake the bright blond girl with the strange hairstyle that seemed to hold most of the attention.

"Ah," Lachesis said in appreciation. "The Sailor Senshi." Even Atropos had to smile at Clotho's realization. It was true, whenever the Sailor Senshi were around, there was never a dull moment. Atropos loved to plan how their future would turn out; it always led to some extremely interesting results. The Senshi even managed to get one or two over on her, especially when they traveled through time from Clotho's present realm to her future one.

"Yes, the Sailor Senshi," Clotho replied, her voice full of pride. She turned to Atropos with inquiring eyes. "Surely sister, you cannot say that the lives that the Powers that Be have mapped out for these beings is anything less than miraculous?" Atropos walked over and stood beside Clotho. Her smirk returned as she watched the meatball haired blond fall on her face. . .again. "No sister, I can honestly say that I cannot. These beings have effectively kept me on my toes for some time now." Atropos' smirk slowly faded as she continued. "Though interesting they may normally be, as of late, they too have begun to bore me. Their lives have remained too. . .quiet. Too normal."

Lachesis whirled around at her sister's words, her eyes wide. "But Atropos! Can you honestly say that they do not deserve this leisure time? What with all that they have been through? All they have done? Surely you cannot want them to constantly engage in battle for the rest of their lives?!" Before Atropos could answer, Lachesis instantly called upon the threads of life for the Sailor Senshi. Gesturing towards their respective threads, she exclaimed, "Look at how LONG these beings have to live!!"

Sure enough, the thread of life of each Sailor Senshi was very different than those of a normal human. Representative of the color of their guardian planets, the threads stretched beyond the confines of the Fates' dwelling, ending beyond the sisters' line of vision. Each thread also had an ethereal glow about them, signifying the Senshi's slight immortality. This was to ensure the safety of the world for as long as possible. The durability of the threads was also different from a normal human's, though they were not invincible. Atropos knew this to be a fact. She had figured it out on one of her more cruel days. It had taken all three sisters and a little help from the Gods and Goddesses on Olympus to fix that one.

Atropos sighed slightly as she gazed at the threads before her. Of course she didn't want the Senshi to engage in constant battle for the rest of their lives. No one deserved that fate. Besides, the Senshi had done so much for humanity that CONSTANT battles would be cruel. That would be increasingly dull anyway. Now, if the tides would tip in either sides favor now and then. . . she tried not to think about it. Those kinds of thoughts often got her into trouble anyway. How she constantly got into trouble as the eldest sister was beyond her.

"No, Lachesis," Atropos answered her sister. "I do not expect them to fight for the rest of their lives." She uncharacteristically stomped her foot in childlike frustration. "But this peace has gone on for so long! I need excitement!"

"But it is not your life to live, Atropos," Clotho said as she watched the viewing portals.

Lachesis nodded at her sister's truth. "Clotho is right, Atropos. It is not your life." Lachesis spread her hands, concentrating, and called upon a picture of a beautiful woman. A simple look upon the picture would show that the woman was not just any woman. Even in a picture, the woman had an ethereal glow about her, illuminating her for the goddess that she was. Her honey golden hair framed her slightly tanned face in an abundance of curls. Her chestnut eyes that shone through the curls held an infinite wisdom and nobleness that none other being, save one, could possess. Her lips were upturned in a most dazzling smile that could melt the heart of any around her. Her kindness was known to rival that of Queen Serenity during the Silver Millennium, a being who seemed to surpass the glory of the gods themselves. This woman was named Morai. This woman was also the three sisters' mother.

Atropos' eyes softened as she gazed upon the picture her younger sister held in her hand. She started to get a little nostalgic as she thought of her mother. Her mother was the only being in the entire universe that understood her, that could calm her rage, that knew what she needed even before she did. And that was a feat in itself, since Atropos was the one who was blessed with the sight of the future.

Before the three Fates donned their responsibilities, their mother Morai controlled the three aspects of time. Her rule was just and true, but she was never in the best health. She had contracted various diseases from the beings that she often came in contact with, and they all melded together, forging an extreme incurable illness that would not allow her to remain in her body.

Morai's illness was never constant, however. It would be tolerable some days, and other times it would be very trying, and something terrible would happen to the beings of the Solar System, such as the fall of the Silver Millennium. When her daughters became of age, Morai quickly passed her talents on to them, teaching them all they had to know before she was able to move on. Being immortal, Morai did not die when her soul left her body. She went on to live on Olympus with all the other retired gods and goddesses who still watched over the realm.

It was really hard on the sisters when Morai passed, especially Atropos. Her two sisters believed that it was the reason that she had been so troublesome throughout the years. This is mainly why they dismissed her terrorizing nature. She was just lashing out physically because she did not know how to express her emotions thoroughly. It was no secret that Atropos missed their mother the most, being that she had the most time to spent with the late goddess.

Lachesis noticed the change in her sister's demeanor and smiled wistfully. She often pitied her sister, and could only imagine the loneliness she must feel with the absence of their mother to be their guiding light. She hated to remind Atropos of their mother so often, but at the moment, it was necessary to bring Atropos back to reality.

"Sister," Lachesis began softly. "You know as well as I, maybe more, that the lives that we manage are nowhere near comparison to our own. Though we control the majority of what happens in their lives, a large part of it is up to them, whether we like it or not. Sometimes the humans just need a little push. We can NEVER toy with their lives, just for our amusement. We must do as it is written for us to do. Remember what mother taught us?"

"We are all connected in the infinite scheme of life."

Lachesis and Atropos looked up at Clotho's soft-spoken statement. Her back was to them, as she was still watching the screens but not really seeing what was happening. Clotho squared her shoulders as she recited the lecture that their mother had drilled in their heads.

"From the smallest amoeba to the gods in the heavens themselves, each being has a significant role in another beings life. Each living thing breathes to serve a purpose, whether it is to uplift an entire nation, rule a galaxy, or just bring light to another's life. With us being the Fates, we are not in the position to disrupt things willingly. We are here to guide, not dictate, no matter what the beings may believe. To interfere with the destinies that are foretold in the stars and written in the Archive of the Bronze Table, is unheard of. Strictly forbidden. But once it is set, and our decision about a life has been made, it is final. No one prevails above us. That is why we must not take our positions for granted. We literally have the fate of the galaxy on our shoulders, and nothing must hinder our mission. Not jealousy, greed, hate, envy…not anything."

Clotho's last few words faded into existence, as her memories of her mother invaded her mind. She began to tear up, as she remembered sitting on her mother's lap during her younger years, as her mother often told her why things were as they were.

Seeing that her sister was not in the mood to continue, Lachesis picked up where she left off. "We also must never tamper with the lives of the pre-destined, the very descendents of the gods and goddesses themselves, the Senshi of the universe. They serve the mightiest purpose of all: to protect this galaxy from The Things Beyond. Without them, all of our work would be for naught. Yes, we control what ultimately happens, but it changes upon their whim. The decisions that we make for them are never set in stone; they always seem to find the one way to try to control us. But this is ultimately how it is written. We are their partners. We coincide on their destinies, and nothing that we do should EVER stray from the writings of the tablet, and the voices of the stars. If so, disaster would be sure to follow. So be careful, for this is a great responsibility that you share. Never forget your purpose, and always do as the Powers that Be intend. So it is written…"

"So shall it be," Atropos and Clotho finished with her. Silence soon followed the sisters' lamentation, as each reflected on what it meant to her. Atropos sighed internally. She knew that it was wrong to interfere with the lives of the Senshi, just for her own pleasure. She could screw with any others beings for as long as she wanted, no matter what Clotho said, just not the Senshi. She would just have to sit by, and carry out her duties as it was written in the stars. She didn't have to like it though.

"I understand what you are saying, Lachesis," Atropos said, breaking the silence. "I know that I cannot interfere with the Senshi's lives too much, or else I would have to suffer the consequences. I would never go against Mother's word. The Senshi have a duty to fulfill, as well as we, and it would be disastrous if something were to hurt that." Lachesis smiled and embraced her sister. "I knew you would understand, my sister."

Suddenly, a chime went off in Atropos' wing of the clouded abode. Atropos quickly re-conjured up her golden Shears of Imminence from before. This chime signaled to Atropos which beings life was to come to an end. Without a second thought, Atropos sought out the thread, and snipped it instantly. The thread dissolved into many, tiny lights that shot up and out of the Fate's domain, taking their place with the rest of the stars in the night sky. "Besides," Atropos continued, her cocky smirk returning as she watched that particular beings life screen flicker out. "I do have SOME ways of keeping myself entertained."

Clotho blinked as said screen in her peripheral view blinked out of existence. This brought the youngest Fate out of her reverie, and she ran toward Atropos, engulfing her in a backbreaking embrace. "Oh sister!" she exclaimed. "I knew you would see the error of your ways and leave my precious Senshi be!"

Unbeknownst to Clotho, the force that she used to slam into Atropos startled the sister of the future realm, causing her to flail backwards, shears still in hand…right for the Senshi's threads of life. Lachesis didn't have to have the future sight to foresee what was about to happen, and cried out in shock. Clotho heard her sister's cry, and unlatched herself from her sister at the last minute, but it was too late. Atropos stumbled back, crashing into the control panel of Clotho's realm, causing the shears to fly out of her hand. She watched in wide-eyed shock as they flew in seeming slow motion towards the Senshi's threads.

"No!" Clotho cried out. After all that they had worked for. After all they had done and sacrificed. After their mother had entrusted them with this sacred honor, was this how their ruling would end? Once the Senshi's lives ended, there would be no point in continuing to watch over their realms. Nothing but warfare, death, and destruction would follow.

Thinking quickly, Clotho lunged for the shears…but ended up tripping over the front of her robes. Clotho was never the most graceful of the trio. Propelled by the action, Clotho's outstretched hand passed straight through the Senshi's threads, causing the shears to bypass them, initially saving them, and land on the floor, inches away from where Clotho lay.

Atropos quickly gathered her shears and willed them away, but gazed in horror at the damage now done. The threads scattered into dozens of multi-colored particles that began to fly around the Fate's dwelling. Whirling around each sister, they danced, twirled, and spun until finally realigning themselves, and reforming the threads of life in a manner that was totally different than was before. Unbeknownst to them was the little speck of pure white that seemed to float away into the distance…

Lachesis paled as she realized what had been done. The destinies of the Senshi had been rearranged when the particles separated. Everything that was already written in the Archive of the Bronze Table was re-writing itself to fit in with the new settings, which was not at all what the stars had in mind. She sunk to her knees as she realized the weight of the workload that was now set before them. Her sisters and she would have to put the particles back into their rightful order, to balance the time stream. That task alone could take millennia. Her eye twitched as she glared at Clotho. Someone was bound to get yelled at for this. These were one of the times when she REALLY wished that they had something stiffer to drink in their home than Olympian Ambrosia. She was going to need it.

Clotho slowly sat up from her position on the floor and gazed at her sisters. "This isn't good is it?" It was more of a statement than a question, but Atropos and Lachesis shook their heads anyway.

Though this was an immense tragedy, Atropos couldn't help but smirk a little. This was the release she had been hoping for, though she didn't want something NEARLY this big. How the Senshi handled this sudden change was BOUND to be interesting.

"Well, at least we will not be bored any longer."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A dark, endless void, filled with wafts of gray clouds swirling about in an infinite pattern, scattered by some unfelt wind. In the midst of the shadows stood the majestic Gates of Time. It was in this very place that time seemed to stand still, all the while swirling about in an endless battle with destiny.

The impeccably vital position of guarding the gate was being maintained by a solitary figure. This figure was as mysterious as she was powerful, with a great wisdom bestowed upon her from countless events passed. Her tanned skin and jet-black hair highlighted with green accents are trademarks for her exotic beauty. Her garnet eyes hold strength and determination, yet often has a sad gleam to them, understandable for a person who knows and has seen far too much more than she should. It was this last fact that had the woman confused. This woman was supposed to know everything, see everything. This woman was the infamous Guardian of Time, Sailor Pluto. This woman was also very, VERY, confused.

Not many things get past the Guardian of Time. Either they were too small or insignificant for her to notice, or so large of a problem that the elders thought to include her in the lesson that was to be learned. And yet, there were fluctuations in the time stream that just didn't make any sense. This was one of those times.

Sailor Pluto watched open-mouthed as the entire time stream did an about face and seemed as if it was making up its' own way of how things should be done. Normally, if anything were to happen to disrupt the time stream, Pluto would be ready with a single 'Dead Scream'. With the way that this had suddenly occurred, it caught her way off guard. She knew she wasn't at fault for this. She couldn't be! At least…she hoped she wasn't…

Slowly blinking in disbelief, Pluto desperately tried to think of a way to make things right again. She was always the decision maker, the voice of reason. Her friends often turned to her when things went haywire. She KNEW she could make sense of this situation if she really tried.

Pluto closed her eyes as she willed her brain to search for possible solutions; anything that could fix this. 'Come on Pluto,' she coaxed herself. 'Just use a little hope, a little faith, a good bit of judgment…'

She found nothing.

Pluto snapped open her eyes in anxious bewilderment. For the first time in her excruciatingly long life, she was stumped. Slowly she sank to her knees as she watched the time stream ripple and wave before her, rearranging itself every 3 seconds. A nauseous feeling began to consume her body as she said the first thing that came to her mind.

"I am SO screwed!"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Somewhere deep in the recesses of the universe, a forgotten planet spun in an orbit all its own, ignored by all passersby and wary space travelers. Deeply rooted in the center of said planet lay an unforeseen evil. An evil once thought to be vanished. An evil once thought to be vanished by a certain pigtailed blond and a pink haired maiden. Apparently nothing is ever gone forever, just in stasis until just the right time for it to renew itself.

That time had arisen, rather, a certain being came upon the wandering planet, revitalizing its long dormant evil glory. A being awaiting it's chance to reclaim what was rightfully it's own.

A long abandoned throne sat in the middle of a vast, vacant, dwelling. What was once dust-ridden, devoid of evil, once again shone with a sickening gleam of foreboding doom.

A sadistic smile graced the face of the being that sat in the throne that no one dared to approach. Wafts of conversations drifted back and forth between the prominent being and it's subservient minions.

"The crystals are indeed on Earth, your majesty."

"And the princess?"

"She is there as well."

"Good. The plan is in motion then?"

"Yes, your majesty. Shall we strike now?"

"Yes, but begin gradually. We must not use all of our forces too quickly."

"As you wish, your majesty." The minion scurried away.

Bright hazel gold eyes seemed to glitter with malicious delight, as a pure white fanged smile spread across the figures face.

"Soon, little princess. I will regain the power that is rightfully mine. Revenge WILL be mine…"

Her maniacal laughter was heard throughout the planet.


	2. Chapter One

**_Title: _**Lost in the Sea of Serenity: An Altered Destiny

**_Author: _**S Dot Serenity

**_A/N:_** Yay! I'm assuming that if you are reading this, you were interested and came back for more. Hope you won't be dissappointed!

* * *

Chapter One 

"Come on Ami-chan!! It's not as bad as it looks!!"

A group of eleven friends looked toward the roller coaster that the tall brunette was pointing towards. Said roller coaster had dozens of different series of twists, turns, leaps, bounds, and rolls that would make a mortician nauseous.

The blue-haired beauty, identified as Mizuno Ami, looked nervously at the ride. She paled visibly as the after effects of riding such a ride danced around in her head. It involved her, a bucket, and eventually a hammer for when she recovered to beat her brunette friend senseless for making such a suggestion.

To take her mind off of the roller coaster for a moment, Ami glanced around at the tons of other people populating the amusement park that day. It was unusually busy, probably because of the gorgeous weather that Tokyo had been having that week. The weather was one of the main reasons that the group of friends had made the decision to come to the park. Well, that and the fact that there weren't any monsters around to fight lately.

Ami smiled slightly, despite herself, as she watched all of the park's patrons going about enjoying themselves, having a nice, normal time. Riding rides, and playing games, without a care in the world. It was so nice to look around at her friends and see how well they fit in with the other normal citizens of Tokyo, when they themselves are anything but 'normal'.

Ami, as well as eight others of the eleven people in their group were the world-renowned defenders of love and justice, the Sailor Senshi, along with their ever-present knight in shining armor, Tuxedo Kamen. This group of warriors had faced countless evils and strenuous hardships during the past couple of years, but good has always triumphed over evil, making them victorious in the end.

To emphasize this point, the planetary warriors had not too long ago faced off against their most formidable opponent, Galaxia, and saved the world yet again. Now, a year later, the Senshi have had a well-deserved time of peace, albeit the scattered occurrences of low ranking youmas on the evil scale. If you forgot that little tad-bit, the Senshi were having a damn good time enjoying their normal lives.

Well, as normal as it gets for the defenders of love and justice.

"Usagi-chan, it will never cease to amaze me at how fast you can inhale six ice cream sundaes in one sitting," a stunning blond haired young woman, Aino Minako to be exact, remarked to her equally beautiful meatball haired friend, who was at the moment happily licking the remnants of hot fudge off of her lips. The raven haired young woman standing next to the meatball headed Tsukino Usagi rolled her eyes as Usagi gave off a content sigh and massaged her now full stomach. "Yeah, and it'll never cease to amaze me that she hasn't needed a gastronomical bypass by now," she mused aloud. Usagi answered her friend's snideness with a medium burp. The priestess, also known as Hino Rei, wrinkled her nose in disgust and added, "Or that some farm hasn't come searching for a wayward pig."

"Oh come off it, Rei," Usagi retorted at the fiery priestess. "I can't help it if they continue to make ice cream so sinfully delicious!" She sighed blissfully. Amped up for the argument that was sure to follow, Rei defiantly crossed her arms over her chest. "The sin is in having to watch you inhale everything around you. One of these days, one of us is sure to get caught in the crossfire of that black hole you call a mouth." Usagi bristled with anger as she stalked toward her temperamental friend. The rest of the group with the pair groaned inwardly. They were way too accustomed to spur of the moment arguments between the two, and frankly didn't care anymore to stop it as quickly as they would have before.

"Well at least I can use my natural abilities to attract people towards me, unlike you who has to knock them out with a club and drag them back to your cave ugg-woman!"

"Ha! Is that all you've got? The way you eat, if we let you loose on the world's food supply we'd probably end up barren like back in the days of the cavemen!"

"You know what Rei? I think I read about you in history class when we were talking about the world's greatest creations. You were the one who invented fire with your dragon breath right?"

"What? You read? Somebody buy the devil a sweater because I think hell just froze over!"

By this time, Rei and Usagi were glaring daggers at each other. Their group of friends began looking between themselves, asking the unspoken question as to who would eventually break this up. The two seemed to be on one of their proverbial rolls. Of course, this silent exchange went unnoticed by the two foes as they continued to argue.

Usagi stepped even closer to Rei as her eyes narrowed in anger. "REI-CHAN! I am sick and tired of you always picking on me and my eating habits!"

Rei shot ice daggers right back at Usagi. "Oh, but I can never get tired of the constant ammunition that you give me."

Rei stopped glaring long enough to look speculatively at Usagi. "You know," she mused, "I'd hate to see the point where your eating habits disable you from fitting into your fuku. Just what the world needs. Evil villains beware, lest you fall to the fury of Sumo Moon!!"

That one struck a nerve in Usagi. All of the anger dissipated from her features, and was replaced by a teary eyed sadness. Ignoring Rei, she quickly turned to her beloved prince and protector, Chiba Mamoru.

Images of her as a fuku wearing sumo wrestler waddled around in her head as she wailed out to him. The same image floated around in Minako's head, and as a result, her shoulders shook in not-so-well repressed laughter.

"MAMO-CHAN!" Usagi cried out as she rushed into him, nearly crushing him in her embrace. "Will I really get that fat and not be able to do anything but waddle around and flatten youma with my body??" Mamoru inwardly sighed as he held his near hysterical love. As always, Rei's and Usagi's argument ended in a fatal blow to Usagi's emotions with him, the ever-vigilant protector, left to mend the wounds.

"Of course not Usa-ko," Mamoru said in the most reassuring voice he could muster to hide the strain on his nerves. "You know that Rei-chan was only teasing. I doubt that you could ever eat that much to get that big." Mamoru sent a searing gaze at Rei over his princess's head.

"Right, Rei?" he asked in a neutral, yet cold tone. Rei, for her part simply folded her arms across her chest again, and was all ready to answer in the negative, but a quick glare from Mamoru changed those plans. With a disgruntled huff, the Shinto priestess mumbled a lackluster, "Yeah. Whatever."

Still not completely satisfied, Usagi looked up at her prince, who quickly tore his gaze from Rei and gazed back at Usagi with a feigned look of innocence. "You'd still love me if I were fat, wouldn't you Mamo-chan?" The faintest hint of a smirk crossed Mamoru's features as he held his future Queen tighter in his embrace. He absolutely loved the way her face turned up in that little pout when she asked him questions about their love. It was another one of her little quirks that made Usagi so irresistible to him.

"Of course, Usa-ko," he replied warmly. "I'd love you even if you were 300 pounds." He hugged her again. "That just means there's more of you to love." That seemed to satisfy Usagi as she hugged Mamoru tighter, and missed the gagging gestures that Rei made behind her back. Not one to let Rei keep the last word, Usagi whirled around and stuck her tongue out at Rei, who responded the same in turn.

Furuhata Motoki, the owner of the Crown Arcade and Mamoru's best friend broke the tension as he burst out laughing at the pair. His girlfriend Reika who was standing next to him started laughing as well. Though Motoki had been a witness to countless arguments between the two friends, they never ceased to amuse him, and he let that be known as much as he could.

"All right, now that that's over, how about we get back to those rides?!" Kino Makoto, the tall, athletic, brunette Amazon standing behind Ami suggested. As the group collectively agreed, Ami paled visibly at Makoto's suggestion.

"Ne, Ami-chan?" Makoto quipped, noticing Ami's sullen expression. "You didn't think you were gonna get out of it that easy did you?" With that said, she turned and all but marched to the offending roller coaster that invariably sealed Ami's doom.

Following right behind Makoto, Ten'oh Haruka, with her life mate Kei'ou Michiru draped on her arm, looked back at Ami. "Come on Ami!" she prodded. "Since when has a Senshi been afraid of something like a mere roller coaster?"

Startled by Haruka's frank reference to the Senshi in such a public place, Ami couldn't think of a snappy comment. Not that she would have won against Haruka's mouth anyway.

Resigned, Ami fell into step behind all the others, all the while deviating even more horrible ways to beat Makoto senseless. This time, the visions included a two by four, an even bigger bucket, and a good alibi just in case Makoto decided to go unconscious.

Ami sighed. Normally, she wouldn't, but today, she wished whole-heartedly that a rouge Youma would show up and distract the group of friends long enough to make them forget about the stupid roller coaster.

Little did Ami know of how soon her prayers were going to be answered.

* * *

Not too far from where the group of super heroes were gathered, stood Juuban Park: the most popular and beautiful park in the Juuban district . . . and the illegitimate target for almost all demonic based attacks. It was incredible to see that most of the park still stood tall and proud even amidst all the carnage that took place within its flowered gates. 

One section of the park was not as lucky as the rest to not be left without the scars of a supernatural battle. It stood as a memorial to the lives lost; demons and human alike. Permanently blocked off by the infamous yellow police tape, no one dared to enter the area, not even the rowdiest bunch of elementary school pranksters.

Inexplicitly, nothing else ever seemed to grow in that area. It was as if a strange, evil, presence was embedded into the very soil of the park, disallowing anything new, bright, or beautiful to emerge. This memorial was the perfect place for evil to rise once again.

If anyone had been walking past the site at the time, they would have seen a strange dark cloud hovering over the area. Being that the area was prone to supernatural behavior, this was not out of the norm for the people of Tokyo. They had gotten used to the frequent monster attacks and the Senshi who always saved the day.

The residential wildlife in the memorial section of the park quickly scattered, issuing a cry of warning to all other creatures in the area: something was not right. Seemingly churning inside on itself, the dark cloud seemed to expand to cover the expanse of the demonic graveyard. As the cloud touched on various remnants of the area, everything from blackened trees to piles of dusts that used to be various youmas, it steadily began to turn blacker, and the demonic aura seemed to grow. Just as suddenly as the cloud appeared, it was sucked into the ground by some unseen vacuum. The area quickly turned back to its gloomy, silent state, except for the distinct sound of a maniacal laugh fading on the wind.

* * *

Premonition. Precognition. A sense of foreboding. All are characteristic of a person with spiritual prowess. Any omen encased in evil would not go unnoticed by this particular seer, no matter the size. The foreboding sense can come as a quick flash, or a more shocking yet painful vision, in any way that the Powers that Be can get their point across. Luckily for a certain priestess-in-training, this time it was a quick flash, but too prominent to ignore. 

Rei stopped in her tracks as a familiar sense of foreboding came over her. Turning immediately to her left, in the direction of Juuban Park, she tried to tune her ability to sense exactly how evil the presence was, and exactly where it was coming from.

Her actions were not missed by Minako as she turned away giggling from the pair in front of her. The group had finally made it to the line for the roller coaster-The Terminator it was so efficiently called-and found that the attendant happened to be a very attractive female…much to Haruka's delight. As soon as she laid eyes on her, she got a lecherous glint in her eye that was not missed by Michiru. Michiru hastily removed the glint in her life mate's eye with a swift elbow to the ribs, much to the amusement of their friends, and chagrin to the sandy-haired blonde. When Minako saw the familiar distress on her raven-haired friend's face, her joy quickly began to recede. [Uh oh, Minako thought grimly. [I know THAT look…

"Is everything alright Rei?" Minako asked, slightly worried. She knew that Rei only looked that way when she sensed evil near by, and it had been so long since their last battle, even with rouge youma. She didn't want their newly gained freedom to end, and she wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to know Rei's answer.

For her part, Rei didn't know if she wanted to know the answer herself. If the answer was no and it was an evil presence, that would mean that the Senshi would have to jump back into action. If it were yes that everything was alright, then that would mean she would be lying about an evil presence not being near by, and the evil would probably grow making their lives even more difficult than they had to be. Rei sighed softly. She hated paradoxes. Nonetheless, she went for the honest approach.

"I'm fine," Rei responded, albeit somewhat distractedly. "I just thought that I felt an evil presence nearby."

"Evil presence?" Makoto asked, overhearing the conversation. Everyone else turned to face Rei with inquiring eyes, their backs to the ride's patrons in front of them. Rei blushed slightly at everyone's sudden undivided attention. Lowering her voice, she reaffirmed Makoto's question. "Yeah," she said. "It was really quick, but really strong when it was there." She jerked her head in the direction of the park. "I'm thinking it's coming from over there."

Minako looked in the direction that Rei indicated.

"The cotton candy machine?" she asked perplexed.

Rei facefaulted.

"No, Minako," Rei said through gritted teeth as she got back to her feet.

"I think she meant the park, Mina-chan," Ami said, grateful if not a bit guilty that she wished for the distraction. Rei sent Ami a grateful, yet surprised look.

"How do you figure it's the park Ami?" Makoto asked. With an uncharacteristic shrug, Ami answered, "Where else?"

"You don't think it's another one of those monsters do you?" Reika asked softly. The youma subject was a bit touchy for her, especially since she had turned into one briefly as a carrier of one of the Rainbow Crystals. Having something that ugly haunt your dreams at night was not fun. Luckily, she had her Motoki there to quell her fears.

"Kami-sama I hope so!" Haruka cried quietly. "I've been needing to release some-" she glanced at Michiru wearily, "pent up tension." Michiru casually ignored her partner as she nonchalantly blew at her nails. The others in the group didn't even WANT to know what that was about.

During the conversation, Usagi was peering quizzically at Rei from beside Mamoru. She most of all didn't want to go into another battle, especially since they were having so much fun today. She knew that whenever Rei got this way, some new enemy was approaching. If it were just a rouge youma, Ami's Mercury computer would beep, alerting them to it's whereabouts. If this was a new threat, she wanted to be sure, because she would be damn sure to give them hell if it was!

"Are you sure that it's a youma Rei??" Usagi questioned. Rei's head snapped toward her friend, and she looked quite flustered before exclaiming in a loud whisper in order not to alarm the public, "N-no, I don't know if it's a youma or not. But it's darn sure evil!" Crossing her arms defiantly, she glared at Usagi. "Besides, have I ever been wrong before?"

Usagi opened her mouth to shoot a retort, but stopped as she saw Rei's death glare. The girl was downright scary when she was defiant. Usagi settled for mumbling something under her breath, which created a smug grin on Rei's face.

"…Um" came a soft reply from the smallest member of their group. Haruka and Michiru looked down in front of them at their little foster daughter, Hotaru. "I think I agree with Usagi." She replied once she had everyone's attention.

Rei's smug expression fell from her face, and she gaped at the little firefly in surprise . . .as did everyone else.

"You agree with Usagi??!" Rei, Makoto, and Minako exclaimed.

"You agree with ME??!!" Usagi exclaimed at the same time. Well, this was a first!

Never one to miss a good opportunity, Rei snidely remarked, "Well, there's a first time for everything." Usagi responded by sticking her tongue out at the fire goddess.

Ignoring them, Mamoru looked towards Hotaru. "What do you mean, Hotaru?" he asked. "Well," Hotaru began, scratching at the back of her leg with her foot, "Normally, when Rei senses something evil, Michiru-mama and I would sense it as well."

"She's right," Michiru said speculatively. "Nice observation, Firefly," Haruka beamed with pride down at the youngest Senshi. Hotaru smiled shyly in response.

"Well, since Hotaru and Michiru didn't sense anything, does that mean that Rei was off her mark?" Makoto asked, absently twirling a lock of her long, brown hair around her finger. Rei's eyes narrowed as she shot daggers at Makoto's back. "No, it doesn't," she hissed. [Does it? She secretly asked herself. [Great, she thought, chagrined. [After all the battles her and the others have been through, her psychic abilities chose now to start acting wacko?

"Maybe the presence was so fleeting that Hotaru and Michiru missed it," Ami said, ever the reasonable one. "Or maybe the evil is more closely in tune with Rei's abilities."

"Yeah!" Rei added in, glad that someone was on her side. Her smile quickly faded though. The evil that she sensed still nagged at the back of her mind.

"Maybe Michiru should scry with her mirror to see if she can pick up anything?" Ami suggested. "Good idea," Mamoru said. "But I don't think she should do it here," he said, gesturing to the line of people ahead of them. The others nodded their agreement.

"Hey, shouldn't you try too Hotaru?" Usagi asked, turning toward the little Senshi of Destruction. Usagi's eyebrows knitted together as she received no answer.

"Hotaru?"

The group collectively looked upon the Senshi of Saturn, as she seemingly stared at nothing with a dazed look in her eyes. Haruka and Michiru looked at her worriedly. The dazed look in Hotaru's violet eyes disappeared as quickly as it came. Blinking rapidly, she focused in on her friends.

"Ok, eighty-six what I said earlier." Hotaru said, her voice belaying wisdom past her years. "I do sense evil coming from-" She raised her finger to point in the direction of the park, when suddenly, screaming could be heard in that direction, grabbing the attention of all in the park.

"That way," Hotaru finished lamely. The girls and Mamoru all got a determined look in their eyes. "Well everyone," Usagi announced, accepting her role as Princess of the Moon and authoritarian, "Looks like play time is over,"

"Why whatever do you mean, Usagi?" Makoto said with a malicious glint in her eyes. "The fun's just beginning!"

"I'm with her!" Haruka said, with an equally malicious look. Michiru just sent her a sideways glance, and rolled her eyes.

"Hey guys," Motoki said, pulling Reika next to him. "You all go on and handle your business. We'll stay here, for obvious reasons. Come find us when you get back!" With that, the couple waved and was off.

As the group of super heroes turned to begin heading to the park, Minako slapped Ami hard on the back. The blue haired girl spluttered wildly as she struggled to regain the breath that was knocked out of her. She sent an angry glare towards Minako, who only smiled brightly. "Well, Ami-chan," she said. "It looks like you got outta riding the roller coaster after all!!" Ami blinked as the realization sunk in, then began to smile slightly . . .before Makoto burst her bubble yet again.

"No she didn't!" Makoto called from the front of the pack. "We are going to ride that ride! Just think of it as our reward when we dust this creep!"

Ami's head dropped to her chest, as Minako shrugged helplessly. Ami sighed as she hurried alongside the group.

[Why me?


	3. Chapter Two

* * *

**_Title: _**Lost in the Sea of Serenity: An Altered Destiny 

**_Author: _**S.Dot Serenity

**_A/N: _**Hey all!! This chapter is kind of long in order to hold all of the descriptions. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Two

In the deep recesses of space, a lone evil planet spun, swirling on its axis, slowly coming within the orbit of the Milky Way. Upon this planet, dwelled evil reborn, martyring its evil presence through a maniacal being: a magnificently demented Queen of her domain.

Some may think that this dark Queen was new to the evil empire. No, this Queen was much older than appearances may give: millennia old, in fact. Her glory days dated as far back as the reign of the great White Queen, Queen Serenity: supreme ruler of the Silver Alliance. Yes, Queen Serenity, the very Queen that she despised.

How could one ever hate Queen Serenity you may ask? The answer is simple when coming from an evil entity. Is it simply because she is more beautiful? Oh, no. The dark Queen was as breathtakingly beautiful as she was evil. Long black hair stained with red ends, framed an exquisite face, bronzed from the long years of living on her home planet. Her hazel eyes always blazed with a fury that she was never afraid to unleash. Her firm, red, pouty lips were always set in a straight line as to never unveil her emotions to others. Yes, despite the evil interior, the exterior was quite lovely. Even with all of her beauty, the dark queen could not compare to Queen Serenity.

Queen Serenity was the very essence of life, as beautiful and pure as the stars in the heavens. She promoted love and peace throughout the world, and had compassion for all. Queen Serenity thrived in the love and light of the world. Evil beings hated that damnable light. The light that broke through their once thought indestructible barrier of darkness. The light that illuminated all of their evil intentions. The light that drew any and all to it, like moths to a flame. Oh, how the dark Queen hated that light.

Queen Serenity's light stole from the dark Queen everything that she held dear. She took something from her that she could never get back: her love, and her rightful place as the ruler of the universe. The dark Queen was not always so. . .dark, however. She used to be almost as full of love and happiness as the White Queen herself, but that all changed when Serenity stole what was rightfully hers: her seat at the head of the universe.

Throughout the millennia, the dark Queen had to sit and stew in the pain and agony that she felt from her loss. As time went on, all of the pain and agony turned into hatred and resentment. She wanted the White Queen to suffer like she had suffered. Before she could implement any plans, the Silver Millennium was destroyed. When Queen Serenity used the Silver Crystal to send everyone in the Silver Alliance into the future to start new lives, the dark Queen was among them. Fortunately for her, her own little time capsule hit a wavering planet's orbit and pulled her in. Here is where she concocted her devious plans. Her plans to regain her kingdom and take revenge on the White Queen. Though the White Queen had long passed, the dark Queen knew that her daughter was alive and well and reeked of that loathsome Lunarian stench. The dark Queen made a vow to end the Lunarian line, one way or another.

In the present day and time, the dark Queen believed that she had the perfect plan. She would find the three main crystals that held incomprehensible strength. The crystals of unimaginable magnitude. The three crystals that would control the universe: The Golden Crystal, The Solarian Ruby, and the Imperial Silver Crystal. In order for her plan to work, it would take immense planning on the dark Queen's part. That Lunarian brat was a crafty little spore. . .and her little prince too. The Solarian Ruby, however, was a different matter, and would take a bit more craft.

The dark Queen studied her blood red nails nonchalantly. She was tired of waiting; She wanted to act, now. But she knew that it was too soon. Too much was at stake to make any rash judgments. She would be patient. Besides, she had numerous minions she could take her frustrations out on. Fortunately for her minions, she figured that she would handle her business first, and indulge in her pleasures later. Brushing her hair out of her face, she beckoned her highest warriors in command.

"Come forth, Daughters of the Sun!"

Seconds later, four different colored specs of light flew in from different corners of the throne room, and materialized in front of the dark Queen: one red, one ice blue, one pink, and one gray. As one, the specs of light morphed into four very different young women, all bristling with a warriors skill, all bowed in respect to their mistress.

"We come as you have summoned, my Queen," the Daughters of the Sun chorused, slowly rising from their bows.

"What is it that you wish of us, your majesty?" The woman that materialized from the pink spec of light asked, looking squarely at the Queen.

"Ah, Kokuten. As blunt and straightforward as always." The dark Queen said, smiling faintly. The warrior called Kokuten faintly nodded in acquiescence to the Queen's statement. She looked upon her quartet of assassins with pride. They had been there with her from day one, and were the only friends that she could say that she had, even though they weren't really friends. Even though she acknowledged them as more than just minions, she would not hesitate to discipline or terminate them. Secretly, as she looked at the women, deep down inside, she hoped that it wouldn't come to that.

Kokuten is the leader of the group of aggressive and impeccable warriors known as the Daughters of the Sun. The group of four young women were some of the most skilled fighters in the universe, and they made sure that they everyone knew it. Their reputation among the universe was legendary. Back in the dark Queen's heyday, the four were her most trusted security. . .in the public's eye. Behind the palace walls, they were assassins who would do anything, _anything _to protect the crown. Being that they serve only the Queen, they accompanied her in the wayward time capsule to the once abandoned planet, and aided her in her evil ways.

The four were not always pure evil, but once their Queen turned, so did they. They each hailed from various stars and asteroids throughout the universe and came to be at the side of the Queen by their birthright. Each girl possesses a unique kind of power that separated her immensely from her comrades.

Kokuten, hailing from the same galaxy as those of the Starlights, is the appointed head assassin of the Daughters of the Sun. As a result, she is the most lethal and aggressive. She is a no-nonsense type of girl who always makes sure that things go according to plan. While under her command, nothing ever went wrong. If it did, there would be hell to pay for the one who obstructed her from achieving her goal.

Kokuten is also the most skilled fighter. Known as the Mistress of Knives, she could cut an object 20 times before it hit the ground. Coupled with her agility, speed, aggression, and endurance, she is a force to be reckoned with. When overlooking her rougher tendencies, she is a very pretty girl. She has a heart shaped face, flattered by the fact that her rose pink hair was pulled back into an extremely tight Jeanie tail. Her comrades often teased, saying that the ponytail is the reason for her eternally sour mood. With her cute button nose, and full pouty lips, one could easily forget that she was a dangerous weapon. That is, until you looked into her eyes. Those piercing blue eyes could see right into your soul, wrench it from your body, and ignite it into flames for even looking at her the wrong way. Her athletic body was clothed in a body suit. It was solid black, with the exception of hot pink streaks running in various directions. There are also two holes at the shoulders, and a yellow sun medallion on her chest to signify her leadership status. Two metal bands covered her forearms, which carried more of her deadly knives. On her feet were knee high, high-heeled boots that looked impossible to fight in, but she somehow made it work.

Kousen, hailing from the sunspots of the Sun, is second in command to Kokuten. She was aptly dubbed the fire assassin, for obvious reasons. Able to ignite her entire body into flames with a snap of her fingers, as well as fully control the element, Kousen is as deadly as she is stunning.

Flaming red hair done up in two buns on the sides of her head with short spikes circling them bring out the sharp features of her heart shaped face. Two soft tendrils float down from her forehead to land lazily in front of her stunning topaz eyes. Though not as wrathful as Kokuten's eyes, Kousen's liquid pools of fire held a distinct power that let enemies know that a cold calculated killer was in their midst.

Kousen's lean body made it easy for her to ride the wind in her wo-man made fireball. Her outfit was similar to Kokuten's, apart from the red streaks flowing like fire about the suit, and her striking red stilettos. Who needs to run when you can fly? To accentuate her ensemble, Kousen's blood red nails erupted into flames whenever her temper flared, making for one hell of a fist fight if she ever got down to it.

Nisshoku, the Mistress of Shadows, hails from the mysterious inner rings of Saturn. Third in command and second cousin to the planet's princess, Hotaru, Nisshoku inherited some of the princess's traits: the healing ability, the foresight ability, and a withdrawn, melancholic demeanor.

Never one to say much, Nisshoku lets her actions speak for her. Mainly keeping to the shadows before her attack, her prey never knows from which direction she is coming from. The power that brings her the envy of her comrades is that she can transform into different beings to make her attacks more efficient. Her favorite is the ability to transform into a black panther, made entirely of shadow that has been known to strike fear in more than one beings heart.

Nisshoku's uniform is not very different than her sisters in crime. Her black body suit is accented with gray streaks, and on her feet are all black, soft-soled shoes, so she can sneak around with greater ease. Her dark black hair is in a short stylish crop on top of her head. Her dark, smoky gray eyes always held a bit of mystery. Surprisingly, she is the least ruthless of the four.

Hatsugoori is the last of the Daughters of the Sun. She is also the coldest, but the greatest ditz. Hailing from the canals of Mercury, Hatsugoori has always had a sense of disdain toward the Mercurian Princess. She always figured that she should have been the princess instead. Hatsu believed that she looked better anyway. With that ice-cold demeanor, and the aloof personality of ancient royals, Hatsu believed that everyone should treat her like the royalty that she was born to be. Unfortunately for her, this really didn't sit well with the dark Queen.

True to her native planet, Hatsu prided herself on her ice breath, the ability to shoot ice daggers out of her eyes, and her ice slide that transports her to wherever she wants to go. She also has total control over the ice element, making the 3rd in command assassin pretty darn cool.

Hatsu's long, luxurious, ice blue hair, and cerulean eyes made her the glamour model of the group, and she was very proud to remind you of that fact. The blue streaks in her outfit matched her eyes perfectly, as well as her cerulean ballet slippers. She believed that only the daintiest of shoes should grace such dainty feet.

Together, the four were an indestructible force.

"Kokuten," the dark Queen began. "I want you and the other Daughters to be on high alert. It is finally time for all of our planning to be put to the test." Kousen's topaz eyes widened slightly. "You finally want us to go to Earth my Queen?" she asked, slightly hesitantly.

"Yes." Agreed the dark Queen. "It is finally time. The Heat Seekers are ready, and you four are beyond ready." Her eyes darkened slightly, as her words became more menacing. "I want those crystals. I want my kingdom resurrected. I want the Solarian kingdom to take its rightful place as the center of the universe. Not the earth. And most definitely not the moon!!!!!!

The entire chamber was succumbed to silence as they watched their Queen end her tirade by bringing her fist down hard enough on her throne to crack the arm. The many minions scattered about the chamber glanced at each other warily, as they knew where her anger would lead. They just hoped that they weren't on the receiving end.

The Daughters knew this as well. So, Kokuten, being the reasonable one, decided to speak up. "Your majesty." She began. "We all know that the seat of the center of the universe should have always been yours. No other Queen could compare to your rule. We will do anything that we can to help you gain your proper royalties."

Every occupant of the chamber 'aye'd' and 'here, here'd' their agreement.

The dark Queen's eyes narrowed as she studied Kokuten. The warrior didn't even flinch under her scrutiny. "So, Kokuten. You say that you would surely do anything to aide me with my quest?"

Kokuten nodded curtly. "Yes your majesty. Even if it means our lives."

All of the minions cut their eyes at Kokuten. They were kind of skeptical at that part.

This seemed to please the Queen though, as a corner of her mouth twitched upward in a slight smile.

"Good"

* * *

Back on Earth, within the shadows of the supernatural graveyard of Juuban Park, a lone figure materialized. In a small flurry of snow about 3 feet off of the ground, Hatsugoori emerged. Landing gracefully, she glanced around at her surroundings with slight distaste. 

"This is Earth?" Hatsu muttered, as she gazed about the supernatural graveyard. "I always thought it would be a bit more. . .colorful?"

Suddenly a black worphole appeared to the side of her, and Kousen's head peered through.

"Try turning around, genius!" Kousen yelled at Hatsu. Blinking in confusion, Hatsu about-faced, and saw Juuban Park in all its splendor and beauty.

"Oh."

Kousen rolled her eyes as she stared at her ice blue friend. "Hey, remember your mission Hatsu, and don't mess up. The Queen'll have your head if you do."

Hatsu huffed in indifference. "I can handle it, Kousen."

"For your sake, you'd better hope so," With that, Kousen pulled her head back into the warp hole and disappeared.

Hatsu sighed, and flicked her wrist, making an icicle nail file appear in her hand. Walking to the edge of the graveyard, she glanced at the patrons of the park and wondered who would be her first target.

Kousen thinks that she's so smart and powerful. Hatsu thought bitterly. Well, I'll show her who can get the job done. At this, she inwardly groaned. This really wasn't a job that she wanted in the first place. In fact, she had been tricked into the assignment. Hatsu rolled her eyes again. How could she refuse her Queen?

[flashback

* * *

Nisshoku stepped forward during the debriefing with the Queen. All of the Heat Seekers stared in awe as Nisshoku made not one sound as she approached the Queen's throne. As she opened her mouth to speak, the room was forced into silence, as her soft, yet demanding voice filled the space around them. 

"My Queen," she began. "How exactly are we to determine who holds the crystals of which you seek?"

"Good question, Nisshoku," the dark Queen replied. Waving her hands ever so slightly, a fireball formed in the Queen's right hand. As she gazed at the fireball, her hazel eyes seemed to take on a reddish tint. The Daughters recognized this sign as a manifestation of her power. Blowing on the flickering flames softly, the Queen raised her hand and released the twirling ball into the air, and watched as it began to expand.

Soon, the ball expanded into a ring of fire, with a dark center, creating a viewing screen for all present. A featureless woman appeared on the screen with a long flowing white dress.

"The crystals that I search for are the very essence of life for their carriers." The dark Queen began. An image of the Imperial Silver Crystal materialized next to the woman on the screen. "Because of this, the very soul of the carrier burns the most bright amongst the galaxy. The heat radiated by the crystal courses through their entire body, giving off a large amount of heat that can be detected by my Heat Seekers." The image of the Silver Crystal transposed itself over the woman's body, transforming into the tiny veins of the woman's body and seemed to pulse with a light that steadily grew brighter with each pulse. The Heat Seekers almost salivated at the thought of the one's who would radiate such heat. They would be the most fun to play with.

"For the crystal to remain with the carrier," the Queen continued, "They must have a pure soul, and generous heart; one of the most gracious on the planet. Since their essence shines greatest of them all, they should not be hard to find. Once the target is located, the Heat Seeker will descend upon them, draining them of their very essence. Once devoured, a screen will appear on the Heat Seekers chest revealing if that person is the carrier of any of the three crystals of which I seek."

The viewing portal shifted again, showing a Heat Seeker standing next to the woman in the white dress. With a feral grin upon its face, it grabbed the woman by her neck, with her struggling fiercely. The Heat Seeker's grin grew as it stared into where her eyes would have been, and felt the heat of the woman's body as it visibly twirled around it's flesh. The color drained from the woman's body as her struggles diminished. As the last of her essence was drained from her body, the Heat Seeker let her go and she crumpled to the ground. The tendrils of the woman's essence formed a small, glowing ball that the Heat Seeker jumped up and swallowed. As the glowing ball reached it's chest, a screen appeared, and began analyzing the essence. Suddenly, a light burst forth from the screen, and an image of a crescent moon appeared on the screen, displayed next to a green check mark. The Heat Seeker smiled and gave its audience a thumbs up.

The Heat Seekers in the room let loose a tremendous cry, as they anticipated the joy that removing a victim's essence would be.

"Once identified, it will be up to you, my faithful Daughters to retrieve that crystal." The Queen finished after the uproar had settled down.

"How would you wish that to be accomplished my Queen?" Kousen spoke up.

"In whatever manner you wish," the Queen replied. Faint smiles graced all of the Daughter's faces. . . all except for Hatsugoori. This mission sounded like strenuous labor. She hated hard work. She'd rather find much more interesting things to do with her time. Like finding some new worshipers to follow her every whim. She already had 10 in her collection, and she was looking to expand.

In an effort to speed things along, Hatsugoori finally spoke up. "My Queen," she started. "How long do you suppose that this mission will take?" The Queen's eyes narrowed slightly as she regarded Hatsugoori. To take a little of the bite out of her statement, and to save herself from punishment, Hatsu quickly added, "I mean the sooner that we start your glorious reign, the better my Queen."

"Hmmmmmm." The Queen said speculatively, eyes still narrowed. "Well, Hatsugoori," she began, "This mission will last until you retrieve my crystals. And because you are so eager to please me Hatsu, you will be the first to aide my hunt, retrieve my crystals, and remove any opposition in your way."

The Daughter's ears perked up at the word 'opposition'. They didn't think that there would be anyone to stand in their way. Hatsu paled slightly. Though she could easily handle any foe, she hated to get her hands dirty.

"Opposition my Queen?" Kokuten asked. "Should we really worry about human interferences?" The dark Queen didn't answer right away. "Just…" she began. "Be on your guard."

With that, she looked away from the quartet, actively dismissing them. Taking, their cue, the quartet bowed and began to shimmer away.

"Hatsugoori."

The blue clad assassin materialized again at her Queen's command. The dark Queen stood then, letting her power radiate around her. Her hazel eyes burned bright red as they bored into Hatsugoori's ice blues.

"Do NOT fail me."

Gulping, Hatsugoori bowed once more before she shimmered out.

"Yes my Queen."

[End of Flashback

"Ha. Do not fail indeed," Hatsugoori mumbled to herself as she surveyed the park. "I may be a bit aloof at times, but I'm not a failure."

* * *

BACK IN THE DAUGHTERS OF THE SUN'S LAIR 

Kousen stood at a podium, facing the other two daughters. Nisshoku floated on a shadow cloud, lazily reading a magazine. Kokuten was in a corner practicing her judo. The pitch-black lair had no furnishings whatsoever, as it was subject to the imagination of the Daughters. Currently, it was a blank slate, as the Daughters didn't feel too imaginative.

"So." Kousen said, readjusting the bidders hat on her head. "Any bets on how soon Hatsugoori fails?"

"20 on 2 weeks," Nisshoku whispered, a twenty-dollar bill floating towards Kousen.

"40 on a week." Kokuten said, kicking her bid to Kousen.

"Aaaannd 50 on today." Kousen said, pitching her own money into the pool.

Kokuten and Nisshoku's eyes boggled.

"What?" Kousen asked innocently, while smiling evilly internally.

I am _SO_ gonna be rich!

* * *

Hatsugoori sneezed. 

"Hmm," she thought aloud as she collected herself. "I must be allergic to this stupid planet. Oh, how I miss the ice caps of Mercury."

Spotting a group of people sitting over by the lake, Hatsugoori sighed. "Well, might as well get to—" The black and blue clad warrior froze in her tracks as a tall, dark, and handsome male walked by. Dark sunglasses hid his eyes, and his brown wavy hair blew softly in the wind. Hatsu's eyes grew to twice their size and blinked rapidly to dispel the hearts.

"Hello new target!!" She said bubbly. [And possible new minion She thought evilly. [I've never had a brunette before…

Making her decision in that split second, Hatsugoori snapped her fingers and a small blizzard erupted around her. When the blizzard dissipated, Hatsu stepped out of it now clad in an ice blue sundress and blue strap wedge heels. Her hair was pulled back using two snowflake clips, and a snowflake pendant hung from her neck. Not even bothering to look in a mirror to judge her appearance because she knew that she looked spectacular, Hatsugoori smirked and set off to get her target.

* * *

A young woman about twenty years old strolled down the Juuban shopping district. Being new in town, she felt a bit out of place, but shopping always cheered her up. It seemed as if all eyes were on her as she went about her business. Her brown skin seemed to glow in the afternoon sunlight, unmistakingly making her stand out in the crowd. Her calf length black hair, tinged with hints of red billowed behind her to an invisible wind. Her dark brown eyes were full of joy, with just a hint of mystery. She was obviously a gaijin. 

A very beautiful one.

The girl walked over to an open mart, selling various types of beaded jewelry. Just as the girl bent over to examine the jewelry more closely, she bolted upright. Eyes narrowed, she seemed to be deep in thought as a shadow passed over her eyes.

Something was wrong.

As quick as she could, she turned and hurried back in the direction that she came.

Straight towards Juuban Park.

* * *

The girl was trouble. 

That much was obvious.

Unfortunately for a handsome brunette, he had found out the hard way.

"HOW DARE YOU REFUSE TO GO OUT WITH ME!!!"

Hey, you know what they say, 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'.

Backing himself into a tree, the man realized that there was nowhere else to run. So, he futilely tried to defend himself.

"H-Hey! I'm sorry ok?!" he stuttered. "It's not that you're not pretty, you're gorgeous!" he tried playing the flattery card. It worked for a split second, as Hatsu's rage simmered at bit. Thinking that he could win this war, the hunk added, "You're just not my type."

Bad move.

"Not. Your type?" Hatsugoori said, dangerously low as she advanced on the now quivering male. "Not, your type?!" she repeated. "I am EVERY guy's type, got that buster? Men are honored even if I glance their way, and you have the nerve to say that I'm not your type?!" Hatsu finished through gritted teeth.

The man had the nerve to nod.

Just as quickly as it had arisen, Hatsugoori's anger faded away. "Ok then," she chirped a pleasant smile on her face. The handsome stranger blinked in surprise. [What just happened? He asked himself.

"O-ok?" he asked. "Yep," Hatsu said. "I can accept that I'm not your type."

The stranger smiled slightly and let out a deep sigh of relief. Straightening himself, he ran a hand through his hair and put back on his wayward sunglasses.

"Great!" he replied, smiling still. "I hope that there's no hard feeli-!" Before he could finish his sentence, Hatsugoori had snapped her fingers and her blizzard returned, with it, bringing back her assassin's fuku. His eyes widened in fear.

"Yes," Hatsugoori purred as she came face to face with the brown haired man. "I can accept that I'm not your type." Hatsu's eyes started to glow a brilliant white, and a split second later an ice dagger formed in front of her eyes, angling itself at the young man. Snatching it out of the air, Hatsu held it up to the young man's throat.

"I just hope that you can accept the fact that you won't be around long enough to discover what your type truly is."

The handsome stranger paled as he asked his next question.

"Who-who are you?"

Hatsugoori smiled feraly as she regarded him.

"I could've been the woman of your dreams."

Suddenly, Hatsugoori flung herself backwards about ten feet, and crossed her arms at her chest. Flinging them open towards the petrified man, she called out, "Koori no hime!" Sheets of ice shot from Hatsugoori's body and wrapped themselves around the man, effectively trapping him to the tree. Helpless, the man just looked about himself in shock; too stunned to scream.

Smiling at her handy work, Hatsugoori dusted off her hands nonchalantly. "Oh well," she said aloud. "Might as well have a look at your essence while I'm here."

Forming a snowball in her hands, Hatsugoori tossed said ball into the air, and shouted, "Reflector! Come forth and serve your superior!"

The snowball started to twist and morph at Hatsugoori's command. The Heat Seeker's legs and arms materialized first, followed by it's torso and head. Several mirrors adorned it's body and covered it's more personal parts. The Heat Seeker's face resembled that of a human girl's with hair the same color as Hatsugoori's, and it's feet were bare. After it struck it's pose from coming out of it's transformation, it called out "Reflector!"

By this time, the people around the park had started to notice what was going on, and started screaming and scattering in all directions. Oh, how the brunette wished that he could have been one of them.

Hovering in the air about six feet, Hatsugoori giggled to herself. "Do your worst Reflector!" she commanded. Thinking for a few seconds she added, "Just don't hurt his face." [After all, I can't have an ugly minion now can I?

"Yes, your highness!" Reflector called as she leapt in front of the handsome stranger. Too afraid to scream, the man just looked at Reflector in horror.

"Hmmm, such a pretty man," Reflector cooed. She brought her chest area up to the man's face and let him gaze into the mirror that was there.

"Don't you agree?"

As the man looked into the mirror, he didn't particularly like what he saw. He saw himself all right, but it wasn't what he'd known himself to look like. Before him was an unkempt, broken man. His hair was disheveled and uncombed, his eyes dull, sunken, and unfocused, and his skin was pale and ashen. He looked dead.

Reflector saw his distress and chuckled merrily.

"This is the part where you scream."

And scream he did.

* * *

The Senshi and Mamoru arrived just as the Heat Seeker began draining the handsome stranger's essence. At first, they stood in shock at the sight before them. Never before had they encountered anything of this nature. 

"Told you it was a monster."

"Oh, shut up Rei."

"What _is _that?" Michiru asked, one hand flying to her mouth.

"And what is it doing?" Minako asked.

The mirror-covered monster had a look of pure content on her face, as it made tendrils of the brunette's essence drift from his body. Slowly, his handsome features began to suffer. Instead of deep chocolate brown, his hair slowly took on a gray tinge, his bright eyes became sunken and vacant, and his skin paled to a slight gray. All the while, Hatsugoori sat back enjoying it all, oblivious to the warriors that just arrived on the scene.

"I don't know," Makoto said, cracking her knuckles. "But it's about to find trouble!"

"You said it!" Rei said, popping her neck, "Ready everyone?" Everyone nodded.

"MARS CRYSTAL POWER,"

"MERCURY CRYSTAL POWER,"

"JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER,"

"VENUS CRYSTAL POWER,"

"URANUS CRYSTAL POWER,"

"NEPTUNE CRYSTAL POWER,"

"SATURN PLANET POWER,"

"MOON ETERNAL,"

"MAKE UP!!!"

* * *

Hatsugoori chuckled devilishly as the last of the stranger's essence was drained from his body. As the essence coalesced into a glowing ball of earth green tendrils, Reflector happily jumped up and swallowed it whole. She turned toward Hatsugoori for appraisal. 

"Very good," Hatsugoori commended. "Now, to see if he has what we're looking for." Eyes glowing white for a brief second, she triggered the Essence I.D. program. Using Reflectors chest mirror as her viewing screen, Hatsugoori watched as countless rows of ancient script ran through the screen. After about two minutes, the script stopped, and three words flickered across the screen in bold red letters.

'NOT A MATCH'

Hatsugoori stamped her foot in agitation. Letting out a string of Mercurian curses, Hatsugoori's eyes flashed angrily as she turned toward the fallen man. "You worthless piece of—ooh!!!" Whirling, she faced Reflector angrily and screamed, "DESTROY HIM!"

Reflector smiled as her mirrors had a slight gleam to them. "As you wish, your highness."

Just as Reflector was about to descend upon the handsome stranger, a dart-like red rose blazed by her, embedding itself in the ground, stopping her in the tracks.

Puzzled, Reflector looked around frantically, looking for whoever threw the rose. Hatsugoori blinked in surprise, then her anger boiled over. Again.

"What the--? Who threw that?!"

"I did."

The two evil-doers looked toward the entrance to the park where eight short skirted warriors and a tuxedo clad gentlemen stood, another rose poised at the ready in his hand, glowering at them.

Stepping further into the park, the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen took up fighting stances in front of Hatsugoori and Reflector. Hatsugoori's eyes narrowed as she regarded the justice fighters.

"And, who exactly are you?"

Taking this as her cue, Eternal Sailor Moon faced Hatsugoori and began her speech.

"How dare you interrupt such a beautiful day for the park goers? This day is to be filled with fun, sun, laughter, and the company of your loved ones. You and your hideous monster have ruined this day for this once incredibly gorgeous young man!"

Tuxedo Kamen shot Sailor Moon a look as she started going through her normal poses.

"I am the pretty sailor suited warrior Sailor Moon! In the name of the Moon—"

"In the name of Mercury—"

"In the name of Mars—"

"In the name of Jupiter-"

"Venus-"

"Uranus-"

"Neptune-"

"And in the name of Saturn,"

"We will punish you! We are the Sailor Senshi!"

"And I am. . . not impressed." Hatsugoori drawled as she floated closer to the Senshi.

Massive facefault.

[Wait, Hatsugoori thought to herself. [Did that short-skirted freak just say she was from Mercury?

"We're not here to impress you, slimeball! We're here to stop you and your hideous monster!" Sailor Jupiter ranted as she recomposed herself.

"SLIMEBALL?!" Hatsugoori screeched as she floated down to stand on the earth, all previous thoughts forgotten. "You dare to compare me to some nasty, disgusting ball of goo??"

Sailor Jupiter nodded, while wondering how that vein the enemy's neck pulsated like that without bursting.

"Yeah, ok, I don't mean to interrupt your little tirade here," Sailor Mars said. "But who exactly are you, and why are you here?"

Hatsugoori took a breath, and regarded the red clad Senshi for a moment. Then she turned and beckoned toward Reflector. Seeing her mistress' intention, Reflector hurriedly ran up to the front of Hatsugoori. Pulling a scroll from some sub-space dimension, Reflector began to read.

"Presenting, her royal Highness, Hatsugoori, hailing from the illustrious ice canals of Mercury! Bow down before your superior!!" As she finished, Reflector bowed low, and went back to stand slightly behind a very smug looking Hatsugoori.

The Senshi's eyes boggled. As a group, they all turned towards Sailor Mercury, who looked as confused as they were. She just shrugged helplessly.

"You're. . .royalty. From. . . Mercury?" Sailor Moon squeaked out, obviously confused.

Hatsugoori rolled her eyes, huffing in irritation. "Where I'm from is irrelevant right now." She said. "I am here to serve my Queen, nab his essence," she jerked her thumb toward the once handsome brunette, "And find what I'm looking for."

Sailor Uranus stepped forward. "Steal his essence? What do you mean? And what are you looking for?"

Floating back to her original spot in the air, Hatsugoori scoffed and flicked an ice shard at Uranus. She barely dove out of the way in time.

"Yea, I'm pretty much bored talking with you now, so get out of my sight," With that said, Hatsugoori flicked her wrist again, and a fierce blizzard rained down on the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen.

Taken completely by surprise, the Scouts were blown backwards by the force of the wind. Taking this to her advantage, Hatsugoori opened a portal back to her home, and beckoned towards Reflector. "Come along. It's time to go." Looking at the man, "And bring my little boy toy with you. I can use someone like him."

Just as Reflector was about to heed her mistress' command, they both heard a cry from behind them.

"I don't think so! FIRE SOUL!!"

Suddenly, a blazing ball of fire shot out and blasted Hatsugoori, just as she was about to jump into her portal.

Screaming, Hatsugoori hit the ground hard. Reflector just looked on in shock. Without another word, Hatsugoori jumped up, eyes glowing. Ice daggers formed in front of her eyes, and with a grunt, Hatsugoori sent them flying for Sailor mars. Ducking just in time, Mars didn't realize that she had just left Sailor Venus open. Seeing the daggers coming her way, Venus twisted out of the way, just as the daggers flew past her. Bringing her arm up as she completed her turn, she cried, "Crescent Beam!"

Unfortunately, the beam met open air. Venus looked around in confusion. In the nanosecond it took for her to be confused, Hatsugoori appeared behind her, ice dagger in hand. Just as she lunged for Venus' throat, Sailor Jupiter ran up from behind and rammed Hatsugoori, sending her back only about 3 feet.

Landing on her feet, Hatsugoori charged for Jupiter. As she reached the green clad warrior, Jupiter caught her wrist, planted her foot firmly in her gut, rolled backwards, and flipped Hatsugoori over her body. Expecting this, Hatsugoori instantly righted herself, calling down her ice slide to soften her landing. Soon, she started to create a ring around the Senshi.

"Fools!" Hatsugoori called, as the ring got tighter around the Senshi. "Do you really think you can beat me?"

"Yep!" Came Uranus' reply as she pulled her Space Sword from her sub-space pocket. Saturn, sensing her movements, twirled her Silence Glaive in the air, and brought it down on the ice, the same time as Uranus brought down her sword, effectively shattering the slide.

Hatsugoori gasped as she came crashing down with her slide. Landing hard on her back, she groaned as she felt the weight of the impact. Opening her eyes, she saw all of the Senshi and Tuxedo Mask standing over her, staring at her angrily.

"So," Sailor Uranus, who was standing directly over Hatsugoori, began. "Are you ready to tell us why you're he—oof!" Uranus was abruptly cut off, as Hatsugoori kicked her in the chin as she rolled backwards into a standing position.

"Uranus!" Neptune cried out, as her partner was knocked to the ground. Obviously pissed, Neptune and Saturn ran for Hatsugoori to avenge their teammate. Seeing Neptune and Saturn charge at her, Hatsugoori willed an ice block to form around her right fist, and punched both Saturn and Neptune out of the way. With those two out cold, Hatsugoori immediately jumped into the air, summoning her portal.

"What the hell are you standing there looking stupid for?" she yelled at her minion. "Annihilate them!" Without a second glance at her once precious prey, Hatsugoori disappeared into the worp-hole.

At first, Reflector just stared at the group of warriors, confused as to what to do. She was a Heat Seeker for Kami's sake! She stole essences, she didn't engage in hand-to-hand combat!

Groaning, Uranus got up rubbing her chin, muttering a string of curses as she looked around for Hatsugoori. Eyes settling on Reflector, she said the first thing that came to her mind.

"What the hell are you?"

Then again. . . hand-to-hand combat didn't sound so bad. . .

Reflector charged at Uranus, screaming bloody murder. Sighing, Uranus thought to herself. [This is just not my day.

* * *

A lone figure sat hidden in the trees of Juuban Park, watching the Senshi battle the mirror monster. Taking out a prism shaped crystal, it pointed it toward the once handsome stranger. Waiting about 10 seconds, the figure snatched the crystal back as nothing changed. Still, the figure felt a strange aura floating around amongst the fighters. 

Its mission done for the moment, the figure was faced with a decision.

To help, or not to help??

* * *

"CRESCENT BEAM!" 

"SUPREME THUNDER!"

The beam of electrically charged light shot straight for Reflector. Merely turning around so that her back was exposed, Reflector shot the beam straight back at Venus and Jupiter, reflecting it off of her mirrors. The two Senshi dodged for what seemed like the millionth time since the battle began.

"Dammit!" Uranus exclaimed as she regained her footing. "Why won't this thing fall?!"

Neptune glanced at her as she dodged a particularly nasty blow that would have taken off her head had she not moved. Beginning to get angry, she replied, "I don't know, but it's starting to piss me off!" Uranus stopped dead in her tracks and stared at her partner. Neptune never spoke like that unless she was really upset. Gulping silently, Uranus actually felt a little bad for the monster if Neptune was to get her hands on her.

Reflector saw Uranus' hesitation and decided to use it to her advantage. Turing the mirror on her right forearm toward the sun, she waited until the perfect moment and sent a heat beam Uranus' way. Never seeing it coming, Uranus turned toward Reflector at the last moment. Her eyes widened as she saw the beam heading right towards her. Closing her eyes momentarily, she braced herself for the impact. When it didn't come, Uranus' eyes popped open to see what had happened. Luckily for her, Sailor Saturn had seen the beam, and erected a shield just as it was about to hit. Sighing internally in relief, she nodded an approval to Saturn and jumped away when the Senshi lowered her shield.

The other Senshi weren't having any better luck. There were tired, breathing hard, and downright pissed that one monster was getting the best of nine warriors.

Moon dashed out of the way as another one of Reflector's heat beams headed her way. One thing was for sure, the thing was fast. Internally, she wanted to kick Uranus for making it mad.

"Mercury!" Moon called out as she landed next to Tuxedo Kamen. "Have you found it's weak spot yet?"

Safely hidden behind a tree, Mercury fiddled with her computer. Pulling her visor down, she scanned the monster looking for any signs of weakness. Coming up short yet again, Mercury let out a frustrated sigh. "Not yet!"

Just as Moon was about to respond, she saw Mars dart by with Reflector hot on her heels. "Well hurry up will ya?!" Mars screamed at the water Senshi. Mercury grumbled under her breath, and Moon could have sworn she'd said something along the lines of 'I don't see you trying to figure it out.'

Suddenly, everything went quiet. Knowing that this wasn't a good sign, everyone turned toward the center of the park. Reflector stood there with a feral grin on her face. Turning slightly, she waited until the sun's rays bounced off her mirrors again. This time, the glare from the reflected light was so intense that the warriors had to cover their eyes. When they deemed it safe to lower their arms, the Senshi's jaws dropped. Instead of one Reflector, now there were nine; one for each soldier.

Sailor Moon was the most flabbergasted. "Oh come ON!!" she whined. "As if one wasn't bad enough!"

* * *

'_Well, well, well_', the lone figure hidden in the trees thought to itself. _Isn't this a rather interesting turn of events_? The figure leaned its head to the left in thought. Hmmm, why does the energy coming from that monster feel so. . . familiar? Gazing at the way the monster was giving the warriors the run around, the figure sighed. 

I guess I could give them a hand…

* * *

"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!!!" 

Sailor Venus flung the energy charged heart toward the duplicate Reflector as it charged for her. The orange clad Senshi whooped internally as it hit the double square in the chest. Soon realizing her mistake, Venus gasped as her attack was reflected right back at her. Tumbling out of the way, she believed that she was out of hot water…

* * *

"SUBMARINE REFLECTION!!!" 

Sailor Neptune could have kissed herself for her brilliance. Something had clicked in her mind that, hey, she had a mirror too! And it did more than reflect an attack. Calling forth her talisman, she aimed the attack at the Reflector double who blocked it's face with it's forearms, predictably sending the attack back to the Senshi of the sea. Because of her mirror, Neptune's attack rebounded yet again, heading back toward it's initial target. Reflector II wasn't expecting that, and blinked in surprise.

The two were at a stand still. The rushing waves of the water was constantly pushing against one or the other, scooting them back about half an inch at a time. Sweat began to bead on Neptune's forehead as she tried to formulate her next move…

* * *

Tuxedo Kamen had reached a decision. He didn't like mirrors. You think he would've figured that out from the whole Nehelenia thing. He would never keep more than one mirror in his apartment ever again. If he ever saw another stupid mirror again he'd scream. Ok, really, who needs mirrors anyway? One is more than enough. He's a hot guy; he looks good in whatever he wears, right? So why worry about taking a second glance? Vanity? Nope. No way. Don't need 'em. 

Skidding to a stop after being chased a couple of meters by the mirror monster, Tuxedo Kamen backtracked two steps and flipped over the monster's head. While in flight, Tuxedo Kamen twisted his body, flinging a barrage of roses at the stunned duplicate's back. For what seemed like the hundredth time, the roses bounced right back off of the mirrors surface. . .or so it seemed.

As Tuxedo Kamen landed, he heard a small cry of pain. In shock, he looked toward the monster and saw that one of his roses had penetrated it's back mirror, creating a spider web crack right in the center. A realization began to dawn on him. [Maybe if we break the mirrors, it'll destroy this thing! Just as he was bout to congratulate himself, and yell a warning to the senshi, the duplicate turned his way with a look of pure malice on his face. If Tuxedo Kamen was any less of a man, he may have actually been scared. With a cocky little smirk, he held a rose at ready as the duplicate charged.

Bring it on…

* * *

Sailor Moon was _not _having fun. She wasn't getting anywhere with the mirror creature! Every attack she threw, it dodged. Every kick, punch, knee, whatever, it blocked. Squaring off with the monster, Moon tried to think of something that she could do to beat the blasted thing. She didn't dare use the Honeymoon Kiss to destroy it because she knew that the stupid monster would just blast her in return. And that attack was _not _something she wanted to get hit with. 

While Sailor Moon was thinking, the Reflector duplicate was powering up. At the least possible second, Moon saw what the mirror monster was doing and dodged the first heat beam easily.

"Ha!" She cried in confidence. "Is that all you got?" The cocky smirk soon died from her lips as she saw the barrage of heat beams shooting at her. Yelping, she ducked, dodged, and danced, trying to keep from getting hit. Realizing that this was going to get old really quick, in a brief surge of courage, Sailor Moon charged at the monster, ducking and dodging each beam along the way. When she was face to face with the monster, it reeled back in surprise, not realizing Moon had gotten so close. Moon smiled as she saw the look of shock on it's face, jumped in the air, and kicked it square in the nose with a Sailor Moon roundhouse kick. The monster cried out in pain as it fell to the ground clutching it's nose.

"Yes!" Sailor Moon cried out pumping her fist. "You, my friend," she said, pointing to the duplicate, "Are one step closer to being moon dusted!"

* * *

Sailor Mercury wiped the sweat from her brow as she stared intently at the computer screen. Brows furrowed in concentration, Mercury was soon losing her patience. [Why the hell is this taking so long? she thought to herself. As soon as the thought entered her mind, her computer screen began blinking rapidly, signaling that she had finally found the weak point of the monster. 

Cheering in victory, she shot up from her seated position at the base of the tree.

"Guys!" she called out. "I found the monster's weak—" she couldn't finish the sentence as she had to duck to avoid the tree bark which exploded around her. As the dust settled, Mercury came face to face with her reflection. Gazing upward, she saw Reflector looking down at her.

Smiling, the evil mirror said, "Why sit here and be so anti-social? Don't you want to play?" As Reflector finished her comment, her chest mirror began to glow, directly in front of Mercury's face.

Realizing what was about to happen, Mercury's heart was gripped with panic. Not taking her eyes off of the monster, she wondered how she was going to get out of this.

Oh, dear.

* * *

"Guys! I think I found the youma's weak-" 

Sailor Venus heard Mercury's shout as she backflipped away from the monster. Not paying attention to where she was going, Venus was distracted from what she was doing when she heard an explosion come from the same direction that Mercury's voice had come from.

Venus instantly righted herself to see if Mercury was ok, which happened to be a little too instant and began to lose her balance, arms flailing as she tried to get it back. Subconsciously wondering why she heard rushing water behind her, Venus had no idea that she was headed right for Neptune and her little stand off with the Reflector copy.

Sailor Moon noticed it though. She had begun to look around and survey everyone's progress as she waited for the monster to right itself so she could have another go at it. Moon's eyes widened as she saw that Venus was on a crash course for Neptune's body.

"Venus! Look out!"

It was too late. Venus back-pedaled right into Neptune, making the water Senshi lose her concentration. With the connection broken, her submarine reflection shot at her at full force after bouncing of the copy's mirrors for the umpteenth time. Neptune barely had time to scream as the force of the wave knocked into her, sending her and Venus flying back about 10 feet, crashing into a giant tree. The two Senshi fell to the ground, unconscience.

Sailor Moon gasped in horror and, momentarily forgetting her foe, ran to her two friends. She didn't even make it half way as the two Senshi-less mirror monsters cornered her. Seeing that she was trapped, Sailor Moon tried to jump over the duplicates, but her efforts were futile. One caught her by her foot, and brought her crashing down hard into the dirt. Wincing, she wished that Tuxedo Kamen had been there to whisk her away as he always did, right in the nick of time. Too bad the caped crusader had his own problems.

Just as Reflector III and IV were about to send heat beams straight through Sailor Moon, the champion of justice heard someone call out in the distance, "Shabon Spray!"

Instantly an ice cold, blue mist covered the entire park, making it impossible to see. Moon sighed in relief as Sailor Mercury's familiar attack wafted across the field. Scissor-kicking her foot free, Sailor Moon ran from the confused copies and tried her best to follow Mercury's voice.

She didn't have to travel too far, as her communicator beeped two seconds after she began running. Faintly, she could hear the beeps of everyone else's communicators around her. Pressing the talk button, she was relieved to see that Mercury was all right, albeit a bit scratched up.

"Mercury!" Sailor Moon exclaimed. "Boy, am I glad to see you!" "Likewise," Mercury responded. "Listen up everyone, I've found the monster's weakness!" Sailor Mars head split screen with Mercury's. "It's about time!" she yelled. The rest of the Senshi could hear how out of breath she was and the distinct sounds of hand-to-hand combat. Mercury's eyes narrowed at the comment, but didn't reply. "Anyway," she continued. "All you have to do is break the chest mirror on the duplicate's body. Once we narrow down which is the actual Reflector, just aim for it's face and we're home free!"

Sailor Moon nodded. She had suspected as much after she knocked her opponent out. Remembering her fallen comrades, she spoke urgently into the communicator.

"Guys, we have a problem!" Moon said. "Don't have room for anymore problems!" the group heard Jupiter grunt out. "SUPREME THUNDER!" The group collectively heard Jupiter hit the copy at close range with her most basic attack. Because of the force of the hit, it really struck a nerve with the duplicate. Screaming in agony, the monster's mirrors glowed slightly, and soon filled the air with the sweet sound of glass shattering.

"Alright, Jupiter!" Mars congratulated. Jupiter beamed as her face appeared on the communicator screen.

"No sweat!"

Moon was as happy as the rest to have one less hassle to worry about, but they had bigger issues.

"Guys, problem?" Moon reminded the soldiers. "What is it, Moon?" Uranus' voice cut it. Everyone could hear her sword as it tried to slice through one of the copy's mirrors. Taking a deep breath, Moon continued, "Venus and Neptune are down—" "What?!" Sailor Moon winced as Uranus' voice damn near shattered the circuits. She knew that the Senshi of Wind would react that way when hearing that her partner was down. The princess rushed to continue before she could get interrupted again. "Venus and Neptune are down, and now we have two extra monsters on our hands."

"One." Jupiter corrected. "I can take on the extra." "Alright, everyone knows what to do, so let's destroy some monsters!" Mars shouted. Sailor Moon nodded, but was still worried about Venus and Neptune. Before she signed out, she called out to her caped protector.

"Tuxedo Kamen,"

"That's my name!" Moon heard him call out. Rolling her eyes, she pressed on. "Can you go and check on Venus and Neptune. You know, get 'em to a safe place?"

She heard Tuxedo Kamen grunt as he dodged a blow. "Umm, I kinda have my hands full on this end, Moon." He said. Suddenly, Moon could hear glass shattering on his end.

"Tuxedo Kamen?"

". . .Nevermind. Sooo, where are Neptune and Venus?"

Moon giggled slightly and gave him the coordinates.

Before the mist could consume the entire park, the figure in the trees jumped down and hid behind a bush. It didn't want to risk breaking anything if it tried to jump down in the mist.

* * *

The figure watched as the Senshi began to get the upper hand. They had finally figured out the evil entity's weakness, and were slowly destroying each one. [Hmmm, it thought. [Maybe they don't need my help after all. 

The stranger's head shot up as she heard cheering in the distance. Waiting until the mist cleared, she saw that the warriors had destroyed the last monster, and was helping their fallen comrades to their feet.

Glancing at the remains of the monsters, an uneasy feeling crept through the figure's bones.

[I don't think that this is over. . .

* * *

"Woo hoo!! We did it!" Sailor Moon cried, jumping up and down. "Yeah," Uranus said sarcastically, while holding up a shaky Neptune, "And it only took us a year to do it." Sailor Jupiter helped Venus from behind the bush where Tuxedo Kamen hid them. The orange clad Senshi groaned, and staggered to where the other Senshi stood. 

With a hand to her head, Venus groaned out, "Did anybody get the license number of that boat?" Jupiter just giggled sympathetically. "I wonder where those two came from?" Saturn mused aloud. "I couldn't really get a good reading of them." The Senshi looked to the smallest of them then. "What do you mean, firefly?" Neptune struggled out.

Saturn shrugged her shoulders, and shifted her Glaive so that she could lean on it. "I mean, their signatures were definitely evil, but it was something else there. . . something I just couldn't put my finger on."

"Hmmm," Sailor Moon thought, tapping her chin with her finger. With a jerk, she turned toward Sailor Mercury. "Hey, Mercury," she started, but stopped as soon as she saw the look on Mercury's face. She was staring intently at the remains of the shattered Reflector.

"Mercury?"

Turning towards her dark protector, Sailor Moon saw the same look on his face. Looking at the other Senshi, they had the same puzzled expressions that she had as they regarded their friends.

"Is everything ok?"

"I don't think that it's destroyed, Sailor Moon." The moon princess's eyes widened as Mercury's whisper registered in her mind.

"Why would you say that Mercury?" Mars questioned. Mercury pointed at the fragments of the glass. "Look at it." She said. "In the past, every time that we defeated an enemy, it always turned to dust. . ."

As realization set on everyone's faces, they took on a fighting stance. It just took one sentence from Tuxedo Kamen to finalize what everyone was thinking.

"The damn thing's not dusted yet."

As soon as the words left his mouth, the scattered fragments of glass began to tremble. The warriors gasped as they watched the pieces move. Out of the blue, the shards shot up and swarmed around the Senshi like angry bees, nicking and cutting them in various places; snagging fukus, and embedding themselves in some places. All they could do was cry out in pain as they were brought to their knees by the shards.

Satisfied with their work, the shards coalesced in front of the group, swirling around a central object. Before the group could blink, Reflector once again stood before them, laughing madly.

"HA HA HA! Did you really think that you could stop me? I was specially chosen by her highness Hatsugoori because of my immense skill and talent! I will NOT be beaten by the likes of you!" "Now," the evil mirror began as she gazed upon the group, overly gleeful that she had the upper hand. "Now tell me. How would you like to be destroyed?"

Struggling to stand up, Sailor Moon replied, "I'd rather not, thank you."

Snarling, Reflector shot out an array of shards, cutting Sailor Moon as she flew back. Tuxedo Kamen barely had enough strength to reach out and catch her.

"Infidels!" Reflector screeched. Raising her arms above her head, a ball of light started to form in her hands. "I'm going to get rid of you, once and for all!!"

The Senshi watched as the ball grew bigger and bigger, rooted to their spots because they knew it was nothing that they could do. They just hoped that they could survive the impact. Sailor Moon knew that she could use the crystal, but something deep down inside told her not to.

As the scouts braced themselves for the impending attack, they were not prepared for what happened next.

SCORCHING FLAME!

A blazing ball of red, orange, and yellow sped towards the unsuspecting Reflector. On impact, Reflector screamed in agony as she lit up like a dying star. The Senshi and Kamen had to shield their eyes as the attack blazed brilliantly for about 10 seconds. They could hear the flames searing Reflector's body, and the glass as it melted, shattered, and fell.

As the light died down, the champions of justice uncovered their eyes and gaped at what they say. In front of them was Reflector, with every one of her mirrors broken; in their place a charred cardboard backing. It's body was blackened in many places, and a small fire still blazed in her hair. The mirror monster was brought to it's knees and was struggling to breath.

The Senshi were in shock, and whirled around quickly to see who could have possibly done this.

No one was in sight.

Looking back at the broken Reflector, they scratched their heads in puzzlement.

"Well," Venus said finally. "You'd better finish her off, Sailor Moon."

Still a little dazed, Sailor Moon nodded. Going through her usual motions, she pointed her staff straight at Reflector and cried out,

"SILVER MOON CRYSTAL POWER KISS!"

As the silver and rainbow colored specs of light surrounded Reflector, it looked up and gasped in horror. With a final, "Your highness, forgive me!!" and the cry of "BEAUTIFUL!" she was turned to dust on the spot.

All of the warriors collapsed from exhaustion. No one said a word but knew what they all were thinking.

Who destroyed Reflector?

* * *

IN THE DAUGHTER'S OF THE SUN'S LAIR 

Kousen was ecstatic. Watching as a begrudged Hatsugoori trudged into the lair from her wintry worp-hole, Kousen's smile only got wider.

Hatsugoori was NOT in the best of moods. Knowing that Reflector had just lost the battle, she hadn't gotten the right essence, and that she lost a potential new minion didn't help her mood. To top it all off, she had to come back to the lair to see Kousen grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Looking about the lair, Hatsugoori saw that Nisshoku and Kokuten didn't look quite too happy either. Hatsu was smart enough to know that their sour looks wasn't because of her failure, and she was too upset to care to ask.

Glaring at Kousen, Hatsugoori snarled, "What the hell are you so happy about?"

Kousen's smile impossibly got even wider.

"Oh nothing," She singsonged.

Hatsugoori huffed, and went somewhere to sulk.

She completely missed Kousen's victorious chuckle and the dollar signs plastered in her eyes.

[Cha-ching!


	4. Chapter Three

**_Title: _**Lost in the Sea of Serenity: An Altered Destiny

**_Author: _**S Dot Serenity

* * *

Chapter Three

"Mamo-chan!! I said I was sorry!"

Usagi struggled to catch up to her not-so-happy protector as he strode quickly down the street. They were heading to the Hikawa Shrine for an impromptu meeting. After yesterday's events, everyone wanted to try and piece together what was going on.

After Reflector had been defeated, the Senshi watched as the ball of light it had devoured slowly floated its way back into the body of the handsome stranger. As it did, the color and life slowly began to return to his features, making him almost even more handsome than before. Venus and Jupiter confirmed this fact by the huge hearts that had appeared in their eyes. Sailor Moon's eyes were a heartbeat away from having hearts in them theirselves, but a quick glare from Tuxedo Kamen broke that heart. Giggling nervously, Sailor Moon quickly scooted over to where Sailor Mars was and all but hid behind her.

After making sure that the victim was okay, and making sure that Venus didn't steal his wallet to get his address, the warriors made their way back to the amusement park to meet up with Motoki and Reika. Unfortunately, they decided to call it a day because they all were exhausted. Saying their good-byes to the couple, they decided to have a meeting at Rei's temple the next day, and went on their way.

Now, a day later, Usagi and Mamoru were striving to be on time for once. People in their path quickly stepped aside as the two quickly spanned the length of the street for two reasons: 1.) They didn't want to be in the warpath of the dark, handsome, young man when his face was set on kill, and 2.) They knew of the pigtailed blonde and her infamous klutz attacks. The couple ignored them as they continued their trek, the shrine only a block away.

[Wow, Usagi thought as she hurried after him, his legs _were_ longer than hers after all. [He must really be upset. Why though?

"Mamo-chan! I'm sorry if I offended you yesterday! I never think before my speeches! They just come to me. L-like they were pre-written or something!" [You should know!

Usagi's heart skipped a beat as Mamoru slowed his stride a little.

"You know that I would never intentionally say anything to hurt you!"

She began to slow her stride as Mamoru slowed his pace even more. Usagi began to get even more excited.

"I mean, sure he was drop dead gorgeous and all…but—"

Usagi didn't get to finish her statement as Mamoru took off again down the street. Usagi let out a cry of frustration as she struggled to keep her composure.

"Mamo-chan!!" Usagi tried again as she ran after him, "Will you please stop and listen for a minute?!"

Miraculously, Mamoru did stop. Usagi failed to notice this in time however, as she crashed into his back and, as usual, fell on her backside. Looking up, she saw nothing but Mamoru's rigid back, and his fists clenched at his sides. Looking further, she saw that they were directly in front of the many stairs that led to Hikawa Shrine.

Remaining on the ground, Usagi dropped her head, and pulled her fists into her lap.

"Mamo-chan," Usagi whispered, "Why are you so mad at me?" She waited for a second to see if Mamoru would respond. When he didn't, she took a shaky breath and continued.

"I already apologized for gawking at the guy, but at least that's all it was. It was harmless, really. It-it was just a slip of the tongue." Usagi gripped her skirt as she continued.

"I-I mean, after all that we've been through, I would think that something as small as that wouldn't make you so upset." She sniffed. "I can't stand it when you're mad at me, so please-"

Mamoru cringed. That little sniffle shook his nerves. He absolutely HATED to see his little bunny cry. Especially if it was because of him. He sighed inwardly. Maybe he _was_ overreacting just a bit…

"Usa-ko, stop."

Blinking rapidly at the sound of his voice, Usagi gazed up at Mamoru with glassy eyes. Mamoru stood before her, finally looking in her direction. Instead of the coldness that she had seen in his eyes earlier, they held the same adoration that they always had when they were with each other.

"Mamo-chan?"

"Get off the ground Usa-ko." Offering his hand, Mamoru helped her off the ground, and grabbed her shoulders gently, forcing her to look at him.

Sighing, Mamoru said, "Stop apologizing Usa-ko. I've heard enough. Actually, that first apology was enough, I was just being a jerk."

[Hmmm…think I'd be used to _that_ by now… Usagi thought to herself.

"I was just jealous when you were fawning all over that guy. Especially when you looked at him with the same adoration the other girls were. I thought that I was the only one you'd look at that way."

Before Usagi could respond, Mamoru put a finger to her lips silencing her.

"I know that you only have eyes for me, Usa-ko. Hey, you're only human right? We all tend to be drawn to an attractive figure. I've been guilty of it myself a couple of times." Usagi narrowed her eyes at this, and Mamoru was quick to continue.

"See! You see how you feel right now? Well, that's how I felt then. I guess I just reverted back to my old shell afterwards. You're right Usa-ko. We have been through too much for me to act the way I did. I was acting childish, and I'm sorry. Forgive me?"

Forgetting all animosities, Usagi threw herself into Mamoru's arms and hugged him fiercely. Smiling, Mamoru wrapped his arms around her and hugged back.

"Of course, Mamo-chan! But don't you ever ignore me again!!"

Mamoru chuckled, and kissed the top of her head adoringly. Pulling away from her, he began to run up the many stairs that led to the shrine. "Come on Odango-Atama! Don't want to keep the girls waiting!"

Usagi sighed happily as she watched Mamoru run up the stairs. [My Mamo-chan. She thought. [I knew that he would realize his mistake and remember that I wouldn't do anything to—wait a minute. . .

Realization hit Usagi in the head like a brick.

"Odango-Atama?!" she shrieked.

Fuming, she started after Mamoru in a dead sprint.

"GET BACK HERE MAMORU-BAKA!!"

The only response from Mamoru was his mirthful laughter.

* * *

"Minako-chan, did you eat the last brownie?" Makoto asked, peering intently at her friend.

Minako, for her part, tried her best to deny it. Saying nothing, she quickly shook her head in the negative, hoping that Makoto would buy it.

She didn't. Regarding Minako's puffed out cheeks, and chocolate crumbs on the side of her mouth, Makoto's frown deepened.

"Riiiiiiiggght. Lucky for you, I have more."

Swallowing quickly, Minako's eyes lit up at the prospect of more brownies. Makoto saw this and quickly burst her bubble.

"Oh, no," she said, taking the now empty plate with her. "No more for you until the others get here."

"Aww, Mako-chan," Minako said, wiping her mouth. "You're no fun."

Looking up from her task of straightening the living area, Rei sent a slightly amused grin Minako's way. "I swear Mina-chan,' she said. "You've been hanging around Usagi-chan _WAY_ too much."

Minako just stuck out her tongue, and settled back on one of the many cushions Rei had laid out.

So far, it was just Rei, Minako, and Makoto at the Temple. And, it was relatively peaceful. Everyone else was a good 10 minutes away from being late, and it was a toss up to whether the Outers would show up or not. They were always invited, but sometimes chose other things to do. The Inners wished they could all always meet together but, hey, what can you do?

Just as Rei was putting her broom away, the tranquility of the Temple was broken by a familiar shriek.

"GET BACK HERE MAMORU-BAKA!!"

Rei cringed as she heard the frantic flapping of dozens of raven wings, scattering out of the way of a certain odango haired young woman. Rolling her eyes, she slid open the door so they wouldn't have to worry about a collision later.

Makoto giggled as she saw the look on Rei's face. "Well, at least she's on time." She said.

Suddenly, there was a loud commotion at the door, and the three girls jumped in surprise. Turning to see what happened, Minako tried to smother her laughs, while Makoto just burst out laughing. Even Rei had to suppress a giggle.

Standing in the door was a very bedraggled, very red-faced, very _exhausted_ Usagi. Her normal buns were lopsided with stray hairs everywhere, and to top it off, raven feathers stuck to her hair and clothes. Fists clenched and breathing heavy, she glanced around the room with malice in her eyes.

"Where. Is. He?" Usagi ground out. Wiping the tears from her eyes, Makoto sat up, still laughing, and asked, "Who?"

"Mamoru, that's who!"

Regaining her composure, Rei strode over to Usagi and pulled her inside. "How should we know, Odango?" she said, getting a glare from Usagi in return. "He was with you. Now come and get yourself cleaned up; you're a mess."

Reluctantly, Usagi followed Rei, but still had plans for revenge on her mind. Pulling a stray feather from her hair, Usagi entered the bathroom muttering, "Yeah, well. When I find him, I'm gonna kill him."

Rei plopped down on one of the cushions and muttered, "That girl will never cease to amaze me."

"That's why we love her though," Makoto said as she emerged from the kitchen with a fresh plate of brownies. "She keeps us laughing." Setting the plate down, she swatted Minako's hand away as she looked toward the door.

"Where is Mamoru-kun anyway?"

"Right here," a very amused Mamoru said, as he jogged up to the door. He chuckled softly at the trail of feathers leading to the bathroom. "I take it Usa-ko came in already?"

"Yep, with thoughts of killing a certain mask wearing super hero on her mind." Minako said, rubbing her hand and glaring at Makoto. Turing towards Mamoru, she asked. "What'd you do?"

"Yea," Makoto piqued up. "I thought you were miffed at her?"

Blushing slightly, Mamoru ran his hand through his hair. He forgot how girls talked. "Oh. We settled our differences. She's just a little sensitive about the whole 'odango-atama' thing. . . as always."

"You're darn right, Mamo-baka." A simmering Usagi said as she emerged from the bathroom, hair neatly re-pinned. "I should tear you a new one for calling me—" she stopped abruptly and sniffed the air. "Do I smell brownies?"

Minako giggled, and offered her the plate. Usagi's eyes lit up happily, and she snatched two brownies from the plate. Sitting down next to Mamoru, she began to munch to her heart's content.

Sighing in relief, Mamoru sat back with a small smirk. [Saved by the brownies!

"Well," Rei said, "that's everyone except for Ami." She glanced at the clock speculatively. "That's odd, she's never late."

"You don't think anything happened, do you?" Makoto asked, slightly worried.

"I hope not," Usagi said around a mouthful of brownie.

"Do you think we should—" anything that Rei was about to say was interrupted by a small knock on the door. All eyes turned to the door, expecting to see their resident blue-haired genius, but instead were shocked to see Haruka and Michiru.

"Hello, everyone," Michiru said, "I hope we're not interrupting anything?"

"Oh, no!" Usagi gushed. "We were just waiting for Ami-chan." Taking a seat on one of the cushions around the table, Michiru and Haruka looked at each other quizzically.

"Ami-chan?" Haruka asked. "Isn't she normally the first one here, other than Rei-chan?"

Everyone nodded. "Yea, and we're starting to get worried," Rei added. "Why don't you try her communicator?" Mamoru suggested.

Minako slapped herself in the head. "Why didn't I think of that?" she muttered. Pulling her communicator from her purse, she pressed the page button for Mercury.

The seven people present all but jumped out of their skins as they heard beeping coming from behind the now closed front screen.

Patting her chest to still her rapidly beating heart, Usagi squeaked out, "You think that's Ami?"

Cutting her eyes at Usagi, Rei stood and went to open the door. "Either that, or there's a bomb outside." Minako joked.

"Minako! Don't say things like that!" Rei yelled as she pulled back the screen, revealing a very startled Ami, communicator in hand. "With the way things are around here, you never know!

"Oh!" Ami exclaimed, quietly. With a slight blush, she stepped into the room, not making eye contact with anyone. "Sorry I'm late everyone," Ami said, bowing. "I was going over some facts and I lost track of time."

Several eyebrows shot to the ceiling. [Lost track of time? They all simultaneously thought. [Ami?!

Not saying another word, and still not making eye contact with anyone, Ami made her way to the table sat down, and opened her computer.

"Ookaay," Rei muttered, closing the screen again. Not liking to see her friend so down, Usagi went over to where Ami sat.

"Ami," Usagi started soothingly, laying her hand on Ami's shoulder. "Is something wrong? You know you can talk to us."

"Yeah," Makoto added, as she leaned against a wall. "You know we're always here to listen."

Ami smiled faintly, but it was gone before anyone could register it. Sighing, she finally looked up at her friends, and they were shocked to see the sorrow in her eyes.

"I feel like a failure."

"WHAT?!" Usagi screeched, involuntarily making Ami cringe. "How can you say that Ami?! What could you have possibly failed at?"

Fiddling with her fingers, Ami began.

"Yesterday. At the battle. I couldn't figure out how to stop the demon."

"Huh?" Minako scratched her head, confused. "But, weren't you the one who told us that if we broke the mirrors, we'd weaken the thing?" Everyone agreed.

Ami nodded as well. "Yes. But I really _didn't_ know. My computer did not show me the monster's weakness as it normally does." She ignored the puzzled expressions and continued. "The only reason I knew that the broken glass would weaken the monster is because I saw what happened when Mamouru-kun's rose pierced it's mirror. I just put two and two together, put the information in my computer, and it came out as correct."

Shocked silence filled the air. Mercury's computer had _never_ led her wrong! The Senshi always relied on it to get them out of tough situations, and it always had. Why would it start malfunctioning with this new enemy?

Coming down from her shock first, Usagi rubbed Ami's back consolingly. "Don't worry about it Ami-chan. Just because the computer didn't give us the information that we needed, doesn't mean that you're a failure. The computer is just assistance. It's your _mind_ that constantly gets us out of trouble. A dim person can't very well use your computer without disaster striking, right?"

"Hmph." Rei muttered to herself. "Note to self: Never let odango brain _near_ Ami's computer."

Usagi heard her, and stuck her tongue out in response.

Turning back to Ami, Usagi continued. "Besides. Even if your computer didn't, _you_ figured out how to stop the monster. So what if you figured it out by watching Mamo-chan? The point is you figured it out. Faster that any one of us would have anyways, right guys?" Usagi looked toward her friends, and they all voiced their agreements.

"See, Ami-chan?" Usagi said, smiling at her friend. "You're not a failure. The computer just couldn't find the information this time."

"That's just it!" Ami exclaimed to the shock of everyone. Ami _never_ raised her voice. She pushed her computer to the center of the table in frustration, and turned toward Usagi with a look that the meatball-headed moon princess couldn't describe. Reeling back slightly, she regarded Ami with slight fear in her eyes. Ami didn't catch it. Instead, she ranted.

"The computer should work _every_ time! It's made by _Mercurians_ for Kami's sake! The stupid thing wasn't following a command I sent!" she yelled. "That's why it was taking longer than usual. It's like this new evil was interfering with its inner mechanics, making it impossible for me to scan anything! I couldn't find the weakness of the monster, I couldn't trace this new evil, I could hardly get any readings on what destroyed the monster! What if something happens to one of you when I'm looking for information? What if I can't figure it out in time? On top of that, I couldn't even figure out why that damn woman said that she was from Mercury!"

Ami's breathing had become erratic in her apparent anger. Bitter tears stung her eyes, and her hands had gripped the table so hard that her knuckles turned white.

No one knew exactly what to say. They had never seen Ami blow like that before. Or curse. Obviously, this last battle had struck a nerve with Ami, and they were all saddened by the fact that they didn't know how to fix it.

"Well," Rei began, softly. "That's why we called this meeting Ami-chan." She walked over and put her arms around the genius in a hug. "We're all here to try and figure out what happened. This way, the pressure's not all on you. We're a family, and we won't rest until we fish out this new threat, together." She hugged the girl tighter. "Don't worry. Yesterday was just a fluke. A fluke that wasn't even your fault. It's probably just the new enemy screwing with things like you said."

"That's right Ami-chan!" Minako cried, pumping her fist into the air. "We're all a team! We can work through anything! Figure anything out! After all," she said with a wink. "Seven heads are better than one pea in a pod!"

"Yeah!" everyone cried. . . then stopped short.

"Wait, what?"

Ami smiled sadly. She still wasn't entirely convinced, but decided to just think about it later.

"What exactly could your computer pick up Ami-chan?" Haruka asked.

Ami just shook her head. Opening her computer, she typed on a few keys, and a look of frustration crossed her face.

"It's really hard to decipher." Ami said. "I couldn't really get a definite reading. All I could pick up were heat signals. Very strong heat signals."

"Heat signals, huh?" Mamoru mused. "That's strange, seeing that, that Hatsugoori person used ice based attacks."

"That's right," Makoto piqued up. "I almost forgot about that maniac."

"I didn't," Haruka muttered, absent-mindedly rubbing her chin. Michiru saw her, and grabbed her hand, rubbing it soothingly.

"Hey, yeah." Minako observed. "Didn't she say that see was royalty from Mercury?"

At this, everyone turned back to Ami, who sat wearing the same expression she had when she'd walked into the room. She rolled her eyes once she felt their stare.

"That's another thing I can't figure out. I don't remember her from my past life. Granted, I don't remember much, but I figured I'd at least get a flicker of a memory. Last time I checked, _I _was the only princess of Mercury." She looked up then. "Do any of you remember her?"

The others speculated it for a few seconds, then all decidedly shook their heads.

"Maybe we can ask Artemis and Luna," Usagi suggested. "Where are they anyway?" Minako asked, looking around for her little white cat. Usagi just shrugged.

"Haven't seen Luna since we left for the amusement park."

"Hey," Makoto spoke suddenly, looking at Haruka and Michiru. "Where's Hotaru?"

"Oh, she decided to sit this meeting out," Michiru said. "She said she didn't feel well."

"Oh."

"Minako, I'm pretty sure the cats will just show up, like they always do." Rei flipped her hair over her shoulder and looked at Ami. "What about that strange power that saved our butts? Did you pick up anything on that?"

Ami's eyes glossed over as she tried to recall the information. "Well," she started. "I did pick up a little something, but I don't know how much assistance it'll be." Turning her computer back towards her, she tapped a few keys until she got to the screen she wanted. Nodding, she turned to her friends.

"The blast that destroyed Reflector was _extremely_ powerful. It's power structure was off the charts. The funny thing is, it was very similar to the power structures of that evil aura the park was emitting. It may be tied to the new threat."

Haruka scratched her head as she pondered this. "Similar to that of the new threat, huh?" She looked at Michiru who looked as if she was deep in thought. "But, why would they take out one of their own, especially when it was so close to frying us?"

"That's what puzzles me," Ami confirmed. "They _wouldn't_ destroy their own, not when they're so close to a victory."

"And what about the stuff they were taking from the hot-"?" Usagi stopped dead in her tracks at the resulting glare from Mamoru. There was no way she was going through _that_ again. "The stuff they were taking from that completely innocent guy who I have no interest in whatsoever? His 'essence'?"

"I guess it's what it sounds like," Ami offered. "Someone's essence is what makes them who they are. Without it, they'd be just like everyone else. A person's essence is like the paint that makes a painting beautiful. Without it, there would not be anything worth buying. Similarly, there wouldn't be a life worth living."

"That's why his features started to fade," Michiru spoke up. "They were draining what distinguishes him from every other individual on Earth."

"But why do they want it? What makes a person unique isn't a very powerful force, is it?" Mamoru asked.

"Anything can be a powerful force if used correctly," Haruka replied.

"True. But I still can't see how it can be used for evil."

Mamoru looked at Ami expectantly, hoping she had an answer. She just shrugged her shoulders helplessly. She was getting kind of tired of everyone turning to her for answers tonight. Didn't she already say that she didn't know anything about this enemy?

"I have absolutely no idea."

They all sat there in silence as they tried to figure out a feasible answer to what was going on. Usagi was the one to break the silence.

"So, exactly what information do we have?"

Rei snorted. "Other than the fact that these threats are powerful, heat based, the fact that they steal 'essences', and have a psychotic blue haired henchmen who claims she's royalty from Mercury,. . .nothing."

Everyone sweatdropped and hung their heads in disappointment.

"Well," Mamoru said, running his fingers through his hair. "We're pretty much worse off than we started."

Everyone groaned in agreement.

* * *

Hatsugoori was nervous.

She was stretched out on an ice-covered chaise lounge in the Daughter's of the Sun's lair. On the outside, she looked as she always did: Picture perfect looks, an icy demeanor, and luxurious, manageable hair.

But, on the inside, she was a wreck. The Queen hadn't called for her yet, and Hatsugoori knew that, that meant trouble. It also meant that she had more time to think up a suitable punishment for her failure. Hatsugoori cringed. She _so_ liked on the spot punishments better!

On top of all that, Kousen would _not_ leave her alone! She had been grinning and snickling ever since she got back. She absolutely loved the fact that Hatsugoori was the one getting in trouble.

"Arrggh!" she screamed out in frustration. She desperately looked around for something to take her mind off of the Queen. She was going crazy!

Grasping her icicle nail file out of thin air, she began to file her nails furiously. She couldn't for the life of her figure out what her punishment would be. She had _never_ been punished before; her missions were always completed. She hated to think that the first mission on this miserable, smelly, non-Mercury planet was a failure. The people here were idiots and they didn't fawn over her illustrious beauty. She hated that.

She threw her file across the room, agitated. She didn't care what the punishment was, as long as she didn't have to waste her time going back to that horrid place!

As she sat on her lounge, brooding, she slowly noticed that her lounge was beginning to melt. Growling internally, she knew that there could only be one explanation.

[Kousen.

Sure enough, Kousen was slinking up behind Hatsugoori, fire blazing around her. She knew that when her body was lit a flame like it was, Hatsugoori hated it. She always melted her creations, and she just loved to agitate her.

"Awww," Kousen drawled as she crept up next to Hatsugoori, simultaneously melting her lounge completely. Hatsugoori hit the ground with a plop, and glared ice daggers at Kousen. Kousen just smiled and melted those as well, and absolutely beamed when she saw how red her sister in crime's face was.

"Whad da madda with da pretty widdle pwincess?" Kousen cooed.

Hatsugoori just huffed and stood up, dusting herself off.

"What do you want pyro?"

Kousen arched a perfectly sculpted red brow. "Pyro?" she asked. "Hmmm. Well I guess it _does_ fit. . ."

Hatsugoori struggled to keep her emotions under control as she regarded Kousen icily. "What. Do. You. Want?"

Kousen just shrugged indifferently. "I just wanted to see how you were faring. You know, with the Queen furious with you and all."

All of the color drained from Hatsugoori's already pale face. "Furious?" she asked meekly.

Kousen nodded. "Yep. Though, she didn't say how she would deal with you though." A wicked smile crept across her face. "Don't you just _hate_ waiting?"

Hatsugoori put her face in her hands in despair. Kousen barely heard the muffled 'shut up'.

"I can't imagine having to wait for inevitable doom," Kousen continued as she began to circle the Mercurian assassin. "To think, her Majesty has your very life in her hands. She decides whether you live or die."

"Shut up."

"You know, no Daughter has _ever_ failed a mission. Isn't that our motto dear Hatsu? 'Every girl gets her man?'"

"Shut UP."

"Since no one has ever failed, her majesty can be creative with you, you know. Use you as an example."

"SHUT UP."

"This _is_ excruciating isn't it? How slowly time passes before we are called forth? Tick, tock, tick, tock. Looks like time's running out for the Mercurian's clock. . ."

"SHUT UP!!!!!"

Hatsugoori had finally had enough. Screaming, she launched at Kousen, ready to rip her eyes out. Just before she reached her comrade, they both felt an internal ring, signifying that they were to come before the Queen.

The Mercurian assassin sunk to her knees in defeat. Kousen just smiled as she walked past her.

"Her Majesty calls," she said silkily, as she dematerialized from the room.

Hatsugoori sat there for a few minutes before she followed suit.

[What's gonna happen to me?

* * *

"DAUGHTERS!"

The four daughters materialized in their respective specs of light, bowing before the Queen. Hatsugoori bowed the lowest.

"We come as you have summoned your-"

"Hatsugoori."

The quartet jerked out of their bows as a curiously calm Queen cut off their normal greeting. All of the minions in the throne room quieted. They all knew that look. The Queen looked as if she were barely restraining her infamously short temper. Everyone present knew that this was just the calm before the storm.

Hatsugoori paled slightly, but her face was just as cold and aloof as ever. Yes, she was petrified, but she would die before she let it show. She didn't make it to be an assassin for nothing.

Hatsugoori walked towards her Queen, stopping four feet in front of the throne, and bowed low.

"Yes, my Queen?"

The Dark Queen stood, and walked to stand before Hatsugoori. Tiny beads of sweat popped out on Hatsugoori's forehead from the immense power and heat radiating from the Queen. The self proclaimed princess feared that she would melt right there on the spot.

Hatsugoori's heart beat faster as she realized that the Queen had manifested all of her power as she strode towards her. She knew that if she looked up, she would see two red eyes staring down at her, signifying that the Queen was at her greatest power. And _damn_ upset. The power radiating from her eyes alone was dangerous. The Queen didn't take failure lightly.

"Hatsugoori," the Queen purred dangerously as she peered down at her 4th assassin in command. "Tell me how your mission fared on Earth."

Trembling slightly, Hatsu stood and faced her Queen. She gasped as she realized her theory was true. The Queen's eyes shown a brilliant red, which meant, despite her calm tone of voice, she was highly pissed off.

Hatsugoori gulped audibly. Standing stark at attention she began. "Well, Mistress. As I arrived on Earth, I found our first potential target-"

"Stop," the Queen commanded, holding up her hand. Hatsugoori froze.

"What made you think that he was a potential target?"

[Oh, shit.

"Well my Queen, after a careful screening process-"

"Screening process?" the Queen interrupted again. She tapped her finger to her forehead. "Hmm. That's odd. My sources say that this 'target' as you so call it was just an average man. An average, _good_ _looking_ man. With your history, I shouldn't be surprised. But, as I have also been informed, there _was_ no 'screening process'. You just laid claim to the first pretty face you saw."

Okay, now Hatsugoori was trembling visibly. This time it was half from anger, and half from fear. Well, ok, maybe ¾ from fear and ¼ from anger, but she'd be damned if she let anyone know. [Who ratted me out?

"May-may I ask who your source is, my Queen? I would like to know who is spreading these lies-"

"No, you may not!!" The Queen yelled. Hatsugoori abruptly shut her mouth. "Obviously it is you who is the liar here, Hatsugoori. And I _don't_ like being lied to!!"

With that, the Queen's aura erupted around her, engulfing her in a red-orange light. Hatsugoori's eyes widened in fear as the Queen raised her arms towards her, and shot two plumes of flames her way. Hatsugoori didn't even have time to erect a shield as the flames consumed her on the spot. Screaming in pain, she didn't see the second blast of pure power that sent her flying back about twenty feet. Minions scurried out of the way, as they didn't want to get caught in the blast. As Hatsugoori hit the far wall, the flames dissipated, leaving a charred Hatsugoori in a world of hurt. She struggled to sit up to see the Queen coming at her again.

"If there's one thing that I can't stand in the least is a liar Hatsugoori! I will _not_ have insubordinates on my team!"

The other Daughters of the Sun stood motionless in their spots. They knew not to interfere, so as not to endure the Queen's wrath themselves. In all actuality, they knew that Hatsugoori deserved what she was getting. She was never really one to follow orders, and she always did things _her_ way.

Kousen was elated. She had never been too fond of her comrade in crime. Fire and water didn't mix after all. She smiled secretly to herself. Supplying the information to the Queen was cake, but _this_? Oh, this was _definitely_ the frosting.

Hatsugoori sputtered to find an excuse to soothe the Queen. She did _not_ want to die like this. She always envisioned her dying of old age, lying next to a supremely delicious man who catered to her every whim. Either that or death by chocolate. Whichever came first.

"B-but it wasn't my fault!" she pleaded, scooting as far away from the Queen as she could get. The Queen regarded her warily as she advanced. "Really?" she drawled. "And exactly whose fault was it?"

A little flicker of hope sparked in Hatsugoori's mind. Maybe, just maybe if she could steer the Queen's wrath to another, she might make it out of this alive.

Wracking her brain to remember the twits who foiled her boy-toy snatching attempt, Hatsugoori kept a close eye on the Queen who was steadily running out of patience.

[What were they called? Solar Scouts? No. Super Sailors? Ha. Yeah, right. More like Super Simps. And that one little blue skirted wearing witch. Daring to say that she hailed from my illustrious planet. Who did she think she was? I'll make her regret the day she _ever_ became a Sailor Senshi! Wait a minute…

"It was the Sailor Senshi's fault!" Hatsugoori blurted, barely restraining a sigh of relief as she saw the fireball in her Queen's hand die out.

The Queen's eyes widened slightly in surprise. [Could it be? Motioning with her left hand, she telepathically forced Hatsugoori to her feet, and pulled her forward to stand at her feet. Grasping the front of her fuku, she glared into her eyes with such intensity that, despite the pain, Hatsugoori started trembling again. This was a new look in the Queen's eye. A look that she did not want to know the meaning behind.

The other Daughters felt the shift in the air as well. It suddenly became a lot cooler in the throne room as an uneasiness set upon the shoulders of all in the room. What was so special about these Sailor Senshi that Hatsugoori mentioned?

[Sailor Senshi? Kousen mused to herself, eyes narrowed. [Who are they? And how could I have missed them? She crossed her arms angrily. [Well, whoever they are, they are putting a damper on my plans to get rid of that stupid ice girl. Glancing at the distraught Hatsugoori, Kousen smirked. [Well. They'll just have to be destroyed.

Hatsugoori saw the small smile that graced Kousen's face, but she didn't particularly care at the moment. All she cared about was escaping the Queen's clutches with her life and eyebrows intact. Focusing back on the Queen, she realized she was speaking again.

"Whose fault did you say it was?" the Queen whispered, deadly quiet. Hatsugoori's voice seemed to echo in the stillness of the throne room. "The Sailor Senshi."

"Well," the Queen said, releasing Hatsugoori. The assassin fell in a heap to the ground. "This is certainly interesting."

Coughing and holding her side, Hatsugoori looked up at the Queen. "It is?" she asked meekly.

The Queen turned and began to walk back to her throne, red slowly disappearing from her eyes. Sitting down, she regarded Hatsugoori thoughtfully. "Yes, it is."

"My Queen," Kokuten spoke up. "You seem as if you are familiar with these, Senshi, is it?"

The Queen sat in silence for a few seconds, then answered, "Maybe. If they are who I think they are." Turning back to a struggling to stand Hatsugoori, a spark leapt from the Queen's fingertips. Seeing the flash land at her feet, Hatsugoori bolted upright, all traces of pain well hidden.

"Hatsugoori, I have decided to give you a second chance." Hatsugoori's eyes widened in surprise, as did everyone else's. The Queen _never_ gave anyone a second glance, much less a second chance.

"You have?"

"You _have_?" Kousen echoed. The Queen's eyes narrowed as she glared at Kousen. The fire assassin's teeth clicked as she quickly snapped her mouth shut and stared at the floor.

"Yes. I have." The Queen leaned back into her throne, calling for a glass of wine in the process. As the minion scurried up to hand her, her drink, the Daughters all shared a glance. What did the Queen have planned?

"Hatsugoori. I want you to go back down to Earth and investigate these…Senshi. Find out why they're here, how they fight, and who they are."

Hatsugoori nodded, but something still troubled her. "Yes, my Queen. But," she said hesitantly. "That sounds like a lot to accomplish in a day." Hatsugoori held her breath as she waited for the Queen's rage. Fortunately for her, it never came.

"I agree," the Queen said. Tossing her goblet aside. "This is why you're going to be staying on Earth until this mission is completed."

Hatsugoori lost all bravado in her face as her mouth dropped open. Kousen's eyebrows shot to her forehead in delight. Hatsugoori _hated_ the Earth! And for her to have to live there…oh, this day just couldn't get any better!

[Live…earth…what?! Hatsugoori's mouth gaped like a fish as she tried to think of a plausible excuse as to why she shouldn't live on the Earth. It was unthinkable!

"Live on Earth, my Queen?" Hatsugoori asked weakly. "Yes," The Queen replied. "Is there a problem with that?" Hatsugoori quickly shook her head as she saw red slowly trying to creep back into the Queen's eyes.

"No, there isn't my Queen." She rushed. She glanced at the other Daughters, and saw the delighted grin on Kousen's face. As quick as the grin had disappeared, Hatsugoori got an idea.

"It-it just seems like so much to do on my own. It would be much easier and quicker if I had someone there with me to speed the process along."

The Queen seemed to ponder Hatsugoori's suggestion for a moment. "I see your point. Taking into consideration your recent failure, I believe that it may be wise to have someone watching over you."

The Queen brought her gaze to the remaining three Daughters of the Sun. The smile was completely gone from Kousen's face as she worried about being the one chosen to follow Hatsugoori. If she went to Earth, it would be harder to get rid of Hatsugoori. She'd always have to be on her P's and Q's because she would be watched as well. Plus, she just didn't like the girl! How could she live with her?

Kokuten and Nisshoku looked as calm as always. They didn't care whether or not they were sent to Earth. It was just a part of the mission as far as they were concerned. They knew where their duties and loyalties lay, and wouldn't let such a thing as a petty rivalry distract them from their goal.

The Queen nodded as she made her final decision. "Kousen," she called. Kousen scowled as she stepped forward. This was not missed by the Queen. She knew of the rivalry between the two. Hopefully the two would always try and one up each other. That way, she'd get her crystals even faster. "Kousen," she repeated. "You will be the one to assist Hatsugoori on this mission."

"Of course, your majesty," Kousen said bowing, angry little wisps of smoke coming from her ears. Straightening, she addressed the Queen through clenched teeth. "How exactly are we to know who our next target is, since Hatsugoori's 'screening methods' are not to be trusted?" Hatsugoori spared her a glare before she turned back to the Queen.

Waving her right hand in mid-air, the Queen conjured a small fireball. Twirling it around between her fingers, she finally let it settle in her palm, where it began to grow. As the fire dissipated, the Daughters caught a glimpse of two small objects there. The Queen tossed the figures towards Kousen and Hatsugoori who caught them easily.

"These are replicates of what the Earth humans call 'cellular phones'." The Queen explained. "They work exactly the same as one, with only one difference. The devices will ring whenever you receive a picture message showing you a picture of the next target. You will not receive these types of messages from anyone but headquarters. All other functions are to achieve normalcy to be able to befriend these Senshi in their civilian forms."

Kousen and Hatsugoori nodded curtly. Kousen, being the ever curious one asked, "How do you know that these 'Senshi' have civilian identities. How do we even know that Hatsugoori is telling the truth?"

"That's what you're going to investigate," The Queen answered smoothly. "I expect great things of you, Kousen," She added. "Do not disappoint me."

"Yes," Kousen replied, bowing again.

"Good. Leave as soon as tomorrow. Dismissed."

The quartet once again bowed as one and dematerialized.

"Nisshoku."

The shadow warrior reappeared on the side of the Queen. "I await your orders, your grace."

Smiling evilly, the Queen turned to her 3rd in command. "Be my eyes, Nisshoku. Follow those two to Earth. Hatsugoori is beginning to become sloppy, and Kousen's petty rivalry with the girl will be her downfall. Make sure they get the job done, and report back to me often."

"As you wish," Nisshoku whispered, and vanished from sight. One by one, the minions lining the room disappeared as well, leaving the Queen alone. Or so she thought.

--_Are you sure it is wise to send your assassins to Earth, your majesty_?-- A sinister voice called from the shadows. The Queen arched an eyebrow. "Do you dare to question my methods?" she challenged. --_Oh no, Queen, I do not_.-- The voice rattled. --_It is just that records have shown many attempts to infiltrate civilians in the past to have failed, royally. I am afraid that the same fate will befall your warriors_.-- "They are not so weak," the Queen countered. "They will get the job done." --_Are you so sure, Queen_?-- The eerie voice continued. The Queen pondered this for a spell, then slammed her fist down on her arm rest in frustration. "Leave me!" she bellowed. --_As you wish_--. With that, the Queen felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as she always did when that malevolent force vanished. She shivered as it's words reached her.

She _did_ have faith in her warriors. They had never failed her in the past. This had also been Hatsugoori's first failure, so she had gone easy on her. The Queen closed her eyes. It would _not_ happen again.

Those four really were the only companions that the Queen could say that she had, and their loyalties were undeniable. They were more like daughters to her than anything else…much more than that _other_ one.

The Queen opened her eyes and stood to leave. Yes, they were like daughters to her, but she would not hesitate to terminate them if necessary. She would have to trust them…for now. Especially if those loathsome Sailor Senshi were alive and on Earth. That would really but a thorn in her side. She'd leave it to the daughters to destroy them for now. Until then, only time would tell.

* * *

Usagi sat in front of her mirror humming a classic Three Lights song along with the radio, while brushing her hair. Night had finally fallen, but the ancient princess realized that she couldn't sleep. Too many things had happened all in a day's time. Gone were the days of bliss when she didn't have to worry about nothing more evil than a math test here and there. Gone were the nights where she could get a full night's rest without her communicator waking her up. Gone were the days when she could once again be a normal girl.

Usagi laughed ironically as she set down her brush and turned off the radio. Was she ever, _really_ a normal girl? Even before she got her first transformation brooch, she still felt more different than she knew that she should have. It wasn't until she found the crystal, her prince, and the Senshi that she began to feel complete again. Ever since then it had been one crazy ride after another, with new secrets unraveling around every turn.

Getting up from her vanity, Usagi walked over to her window and drew back the curtain. Sitting at her window seat, she stared at the moon longingly, as she did many a night. [I wonder what secrets will be uncovered with this new enemy?

Usagi blinked as something black beneath the tree in front of her window caught her eye. Standing up so she could get a better view, she gasped in surprise at what she saw. She quickly pushed up the window.

"Luna!"

The black kitty in question quickly hopped up the tree, onto the balcony, and bounced into Usagi's waiting arms. The odango less young woman gently placed Luna on the bed and sat next to her.

"Where have you been all day, Luna?" Usagi asked, grabbing a huge, stuffed, pink bunny, and hugging it tightly. "I was getting worried."

"Oh, Usagi," the black cat purred. "You should know not to worry about me." Luna nonchalantly began to clean her paw and wash her face.

"But you've been gone since yesterday! And now a whole new day's about to start!"

Luna stopped what she was doing, and turned toward her charge, touched by the concern laced in her voice. She leapt into her lap and began to purr.

"Sorry to worry you Usagi," She apologized. "I was just out doing some research."

"Research?" Usagi asked, eyebrows knitting together. "For what?"

Luna looked at her incredulously. "For what? Surely you have felt the negative energies that have been radiating across the city? There may be a new enemy afoot!"

At this, Usagi scoffed and tossed aside her bunny. She turned and flopped belly first onto her bed, narrowly missing a soon to be irate kitty cat.

"Maybe isn't the word, Luna," Usagi said as she stretched. "There _is_ a new enemy, and we met them up close and personal at the park yesterday afternoon."

"WHAT?!" Luna screeched, making her charge cringe and pull her pillow over her head.

"Luna! I _hate_ it when you do that!"

"Never mind that!" the kitty continued. "What about this new enemy? Where did it attack? Where any of you hurt? Who was there? What did it want?"

Pulling the pillow from her head, Usagi pondered the barrage of questions that was just shot at her.

"Ummm…the park, not badly, everyone except for Pluto, and essences, though we really aren't sure of why yet."

Luna just stared at her for a minute.

"Essences?"

"Yeah, at least that's what the ice lady said," Usagi offered as she rolled over onto her back. Luna jumped onto her chest so that she could hear better. Usagi tried not to laugh at the way Luna looked, rising and falling with each breath she took.

"Ice lady?"

Usagi sighed and commenced telling her of what happened at the battle, and what was discussed at the meeting earlier that day.

"I can't believe I missed the meeting," Luna mumbled, looking off to the side.

"I can't either," Usagi said, speculatively. "Artemis wasn't there either."

Suddenly, Usagi bolted upright, sending Luna flying, yowling, across the room.

"U-USAGI!" Luna sputtered, jumping back onto the bed.

"So Luna," Usagi said slyly, rearranging herself so that she was facing Luna at the end of the bed. "Where exactly did you say you were?"

Luna sat ramrod straight, nose in the air.

"Doing research."

Usagi inched closer to her.

"And was _Artemis_ with you?"

"Yes. He was."

"AH HA!!" Usagi cried triumphantly, pumping her fist in the air. "_You've_ been on a date with Artemis! That's why you've been AWOL!"

"It is not!" Luna cried indignantly, hackles rising in annoyance. "I was NOT on a date with Artemis! I was doing _research_! Why do you think that I missed the meeting? When have I _ever_ missed a meeting?!"

"Tonight when you were on your date with Artemis."

"I was NOT on a DATE!"

"Yes, you were!" Usagi sang.

"Were not!"

"Were so!"

"Were not!"

"Were so!"

"Were NOT!" Usagi let out a little cry of surprise as Luna brandished her claws in the blonde's face. Gulping loudly, she reached out and pushed Luna's paw back to the bed. "Alright, alright, you weren't on a date."

Fixing her composure, Luna nodded gratefully. "Thank you."

"Tonight."

"USAGI!!"

Usagi giggled as she dodged an angry swipe from Luna. "Sorry," she said, climbing under the covers. "Couldn't resist."

Luna huffed, and hoped onto the windowsill. "All joking aside, Usagi," she started. "I want us both to go out tomorrow and investigate the point where this dark energy is the strongest. If we want to continue our peaceful living, we must nip this in the bud quickly."

"Um hmmm," Usagi sighed as she closed her eyes. "Bright and early, tomorrow afternoon."

Luna sweatdropped as she trotted toward her usual resting place next to Usagi. "Well, I guess that'll have to do. Should we call the others?"

"No," Usagi yawned. "It'll be fine with just the two of us."

Luna nodded as she closed her eyes, preparing to drift off.

The Juuban district was quiet as most of its residents prepared to rest until morning. Not a sound could be heard…unless you count the yowling screech of a cat.

"I'll just ask Artemis about your date tomorrow."

"IT WAS NOT A DATE!!!"

* * *

"Hold still Hatsugoori!" Kokuten admonished as she tried to dress the girl's wounds. "But it hurts!" Hatsugoori hissed back. She winched again as Kokuten applied more gauze. The two were in the Daughter's lair, preparing Hatsugoori for her mission. She couldn't very well go out in public with multiple scorch marks all over her skin, could she?

"It is your own fault," Kokuten said, as she wrapped the final bandage. Hatsugoori immediately got defensive and glared at the pink haired girl. "_My_ fault? How is it _my_ fault that the Queen got fire happy?!"

Kokuten frowned deeply at Hatsugoori. Hatsugoori saw this, seemed put out for a moment, then turned away. Kokuten smiled slightly. Hatsugoori was hard-headed, but she still knew her place. Regaining her stoic composure, Kokuten continued. "Yes, it was your fault. You lied to our Queen, and you know that, that is extremely forbidden by the bylaws of her kingdom. You also failed your mission."

At that, Hatsugoori whipped around and stuck her finger in Kokuten's face. "I told you, it was NOT MY FAULT! I would have succeeded in that stupid mission if those stupid Sailor freaks hadn't shown up!" Kokuten nodded. "Yes you have told us this, but we have yet to see proof."

Hatsugoori threw her hands up in exasperation. "Did I come back with a crystal?! No! I would still be out there looking if they hadn't gotten in my way! Besides, how was I to be sure of who had the purest essence or not anyway? We didn't get these. . .things until now!"

Kokuten began to pack away the first aid kit. "Okay, I will give you that. But," She turned to glare fiercely into Hatsugoori's eyes. For a moment, Hatsugoori felt as if she were looking into a mirror; the ferocity in Kokuten's cerulean blue eyes seemed to match her own.

"But, as an elite member of the Daughters of the Sun, you should have been able to handle them. You were specifically chosen out of many to represent your planet, as well as yourself. We have a reputation to uphold, and an impeccable record; we have never failed. If it is too much of a challenge for you to take care of a couple of air headed twits running around in sailor costumes, then maybe you should find yourself a new profession." With that, the mistress of knives turned, and left a simmering Hatsugoori alone.

Hatsugoori ran a hand through her hair self-consciously as she turned to her mirror. Her face didn't have as many scorch marks as the rest of her body; for that she was grateful. It was nothing that a good amount of make-up couldn't fix.

The blue haired woman closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to force Kokuten's words out of her head. Of all the daughters, Kokuten was the only one who could strike a nerve in her. Hell, she could strike plenty of fear too; the girl was lethal!

Long ago, Hatsugoori had looked up to the girl who became leader. Sure, she was as cold as she was now, but there was just a sense of camaraderie between her and the other girls. They were all aloof individuals, but being around each other for so long had made them relatively close. They wouldn't lay their lives on the line for one another, but they'd stand up and fight for their sisters, even if they would never admit it to anyone if they asked.

In a way, Hatsugoori had always wanted to be like Kokuten. Sure she wasn't the nicest person, but she was _powerful_, and well respected. Criminals would cower in fear before her, as all others stared in awe. Now, Hatsugoori isn't water under the bridge herself, but there was always this edge about Kokuten that Hatsugoori wished she had. This was the only reason she actually stopped to consider what she said.

Opening her eyes, she knew what she had to do. [No wimpy imposters in mini-skirts are going to stop me. she thought to herself. [I WILL get the crystals for my Queen, and I'll show everyone that I'm not a failure, and that I have a right to bear the title of a Daughter. Nodding to herself finally, she began to prepare herself for sleep. Rising into the air, she formed a thin water current from the air and laid back on it. [Tomorrow, it will all be different. Tomorrow, it'll be Hatsugoori who comes out on top.

* * *

Not too far from Usagi's home and down the street from Mamoru's apartment stood a quaint little apartment building. Though not as lavish as Mamoru's building, it still held it's own air of elegance.

Home to over 100 residents, only one was brave enough to sit out on their balcony and brave the questionably brisk air of the night. Five floors up in apartment 504, a young, brown skinned, twenty-odd year old woman sat upon her balcony, gazing into the night sky.

Shivering slightly, the woman pulled the light blanket tighter around her shoulders. Taking her gaze from the sky, she looked upon the topaz crystal that she clutched in her hand like a lifeline.

Lightly tossing it repeatedly in the air, she sighed to herself. Closing her eyes, she touched the crystal to her forehead. "So," she whispered to herself. "It begins."

**_A/N: See you next chappie!_**


	5. Chapter Four

_**Title**_: Lost in the Sea of Serenity: An Altered Destiny

**_Author_**: S Dot Serenity

**_A/N_**: Hey everyone! Sorry that it took me so long to update! But with school and personal issues, things began to be a bit much. Well, I'm back now, and will be updating on more often. I just hope that there are people out there who enjoy this story as much as I enjoy writing it! Send me your thoughts!! Oh, and a big thank you goes out to _Sol Y Sombra_ and _Serandi82_ for your reviews! Now, on to the story!

**_Disclaimer_**: Don't own Sailor Moon. Never have, never will...

* * *

**Chapter Four**

Hatsugoori couldn't believe her luck. Here she was, stuck on this goddess-forsaken planet called 'Earth' which was _way_ too green for her tastes, and worst of all, she had to share an apartment with _her_ of all people! She hung her head and sighed. She knew that she had made the Queen mad, but if she'd known that her punishment was to be paired with Kousen, she would have gladly taken the fire blasts.

Kousen, for her part, had already taken an active role in the whole 'Earthling' guise. She'd been roving around their arranged living quarters for the better part of the hour that they had been there. It was very elaborately decorated in all Earthen finery, and Kousen took it upon herself to explore all of it.

The fire assassin had even shed her Daughters' fuku and donned an Earthen outfit. Clad in blue jean shorts, black midriff with a red fox on the front, and black tennis shoes, Kousen went from room to room, intently ignoring her silently fuming comrade. At the moment, Kousen was fiddling with what the Earthlings called a 'television' to ease some of the tension in the room.

Deciding that she couldn't take the silence anymore, Hatsugoori spoke.

"Of all the Daughters that her majesty could have sent, she had to stick me with _you_."

Hey, no one ever said that Hatsugoori got points for positivity.

Kousen sniffed haughtily and sank into their huge, plush white couch. "As if I _wanted_ to be stuck here babysitting a spoiled rotten, self-centered, iced-out drama queen like you!"

Hatsugoori's jaw hit the floor. How _dare_ Kousen say such things about her! She was NOT spoiled in the least!

Stalking towards the red haired warrior, Hatsugoori stood directly in front of her and raged, "You rotten little heat rash! How _dare_ you speak to me that way! I'll have you know that—" Hatsugoori stopped her rant as she saw that Kousen was once again ignoring her, and peering to her left to see what was on the television.

The self-proclaimed princess stamped her foot in annoyance. She would _not_ be ignored! "Pay attention to me dammit!" she yelled. Forgetting her rage for a split second, Hatsugoori stopped and pulled at the neck of her fuku and winched as small bursts of steam emerged.

"And why is it so freakin' hot in here?!"

Casually, Kousen pushed Hatsugoori to the side and changed the channel. "Unlike you," she drawled. "I'd prefer not to freeze to death before I reach my full potential."

Before Hatsugoori could fire off a retort, Kousen continued. "Why don't you change out of your fuku if you're so hot? You can't very well be seen walking around Tokyo like that anyway."

Blinking in confusion, Hatsugoori looked down at her cerulean and black assassin fuku and realized, regrettably, that Kousen was right. Glancing at her 'roommate', she took in her apparel and knew that she could outdo her.

Snapping her fingers, a blizzard erupted around Hatsugoori, surrounding her for a full five seconds. When she emerged, she was dressed in a blue jean mini skirt, a baby blue tube top, and baby blue platform sandals adorned her feet. Her hair was pulled into a Jeannie tail, and small diamond snowflake earrings were in her ears.

Whirling around in a circle, Hatsugoori bounced over to Kousen and leaned into her face. Beaming brightly, she sang, "Aren't I cute?"

Becoming increasingly annoyed with her partner, Kousen pushed Hatsugoori aside, scoffing. "Hardly."

Sitting on the floor and glaring up at Kousen, Hatsugoori figured that she'd had enough. Mission or no, _somebody_ had to go, and it wouldn't be Hatsugoori.

Just as the blue clad assassin was powering up for an ice blast, she was startled by a loud ring coming from her hip. Looking down in surprise, she pulled her cell phone from the clasp that she didn't know was there. Staring at it quizzically, she held it between her thumb and index finger.

"What is it doing?"

Rolling her eyes, Kousen grabbed the phone and pressed a button. "You have a message, dingus." Pressing the button on her own phone, she continued. "It must be the names that we're to use while we're here."

"Names?" Hatsugoori asked, still looking at the phone. "Why do we need new names? What's wrong with my name?"

Kousen slapped her hand to her forehead. Counting back from ten, she tried to calmly explain to Hatsugoori.

"We have to be given normal Earthen names so we can fit in with the _normal_ Earth people. Names like 'Kousen' and 'Hatsugoori' will rouse suspicion."

Hatsugoori frowned. "But I'm _not _normal," she said with a slightly haughty air.

Kousen snorted. "No arguments there."

The ice assassin stuck her nose in the air. "I _meant_ that as royalty, I should not be seen as a commoner anyway." Kousen just rolled her eyes.

Sending a glare towards her increasingly hated roomate, Hatsugoori read her message. "I still don't see the poi…" Hatsugoori stopped suddenly as what she read sank in.

"What?" Kousen said, trying to peer at her phone. "What's wrong?"

"My name," Hatsugoori whispered, thousands of emotions threatening to spill over.

Oblivious, Kousen proceeded to read her own assigned name. "Well of course it's your name. I just told you that central control was sending over our…oh."

_Yeah, 'oh'_. Hatsugoori thought to herself. Eyes tracing longingly across the words on the screen, Hatsugoori whispered them aloud. "Aisuno Himeko." Soon as the words left her mouth, Hatsugoori was hit hard by a long dormant memory.

She and another blue haired young girl were laughing happily, ice skating through Mercury's ice canals. Though the other girls' face was a blur, Hatsugoori knew that they were close. As quick as the memory had come, it was gone, but the emotions that they had caused, Hatsugoori knew, would always be there. Closing her eyes, Hatsugoori took a deep breath as she tried to push those memories and emotions back down to where she kept them sealed away, hopefully never to awaken again. She was an assassin. She had no use for emotions like love, friendship, acceptance. She was perfectly fine being an ice-cold shell of a person that she once was.

Kousen was having the same problem. "Kyoumaru Kasai." Only her memories were not as loving and fun filled as Hatsugoori's. Shaking her head firmly, she willed them away, not even wanting to take that disastrous plunge down memory lane. Closing her phone, she looked over at Hatsugoori who still had a distant look in her eyes.

"Hey, Hatsu…I mean Himeko," Kousen called. "Let's watch some television until we set out to find those 'Senshi'."

Languidly, Hatsugoori rose from the ground and walked over to the couch. "Why can't we just go out now?" she asked.

Grabbing the remote, Kousen began to flip until she found something interesting. "It's still early. Most civilians are at school or work. It'll be useless if we go out now."

Hatsugoori nodded. Their squabble momentarily forgotten in favor of errant memories, the pair sat together peaceful and tried not to let their minds stray to a path that only led to heartache.

* * *

"Luna! Can we go home now?" Usagi pleaded as she stopped to lean against a tree to rest. The next day, the pair had come to the park straight after school, and had been scouting the 'demonic graveyard' for a little over 30 minutes trying to find something that would give them some information on their new enemy. Unfortunately they had found nothing of use.

"I don't even really know what we're looking for," Usagi continued, brushing some errant dirt from her shoe.

Taking one last look, Luna walked over to her charge. "I suppose you're right," she said. "I guess it would be more helpful if we had Rei's seeing abilities, or Ami and her computer."

Usagi nodded. "Yeah, it would. But Rei had something to do after school and Ami's still a little down about her computer."

Luna sighed. "I wish there was something that we could do to help that poor girl." Usagi nodded. "Me too. I just don't know what."

Whatever Luna was about to saw was interrupted by the slight rumble coming from Usagi's stomach.

Rubbing her stomach and giggling embarrassedly, Usagi bent down to grab her school case. "Well, looks like it's snack time." Scooping down to pick up Luna, Usagi started walking towards Crown. "Whad'ya say Luna? How about lunch?"

Unfortunately, Usagi's food quest was rudely interrupted by the brick wall she ran into. Groaning, Usagi sat up rubbing her side. "I have _got_ to stop doing that."

Looking around, she spotted Luna sprawled on the ground and could have sworn that she saw little balls of yarn spinning around her head. [Boy, is she going to be cranky when she wakes up.]

Finally looking up to see what she ran into, Usagi gasped. Standing before her was an incredibly pretty girl. She was brown skinned, with long raven hair, half up in a bun, half down, tinted with red. Her large brown eyes were filled with concern as she looked down at Usagi.

"Oh my gosh! Are you ok?"

The brown skinned stranger offered a hand, and Usagi gladly accepted it.

"Arigato Gozaimasu," Usagi said, bowing. Standing up straight, Usagi realized how tall the girl was. She practically the same height as Setsuna! She could see how she felt like a brick wall.

"No problem." The stranger said. Bending down to pick up Usagi's case, she saw Luna in the process.

"Oh! What a cute kitty!" She quickly scooped Luna up and cradled her in her arms. "Poor thing. That fall must have shaken you up pretty bad."

Shaking her head quickly to gather her senses, Luna looked up at her helper. Her eyes suddenly narrowed as she felt something strange coming from the girl. [What is this feeling? It seems so…familiar.] Deciding that she didn't like it, Luna quickly righted herself and leapt into Usagi's waiting arms.

Blinking in surprise, the stranger scratched her head nervously. "Sorry I grabbed her like that. It's just that I really like cats. I have one of my own at home." Suddenly, she smiled brightly. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't introduce myself." Bowing slightly out of respect, she said. "My name is Andrea."

Usagi just stared at her. "You're not from Japan, are you?"

Andrea laughed. "Nope. I'm from America."

[Makes sense.]

Usagi smiled brightly. "How cool! I really don't meet too many Americans! Probably because my English sucks. "I'm Tsukino Usagi by the way."

Andrea laughed and nodded. "Nice to meet you."

Suddenly, Usagi's stomach rumbled again, and she remembered where she was off to in such a hurry in the first place. "Oh, I can't believe I almost forgot!" Usagi said, slapping herself in the forehead. "I was just on my way to grab a bite to eat, wanna come?"

"Well," Andrea said, seeming a little held back. "I haven't really eaten anything yet, but…" But before she could say anything else, Usagi grabbed her hand and was pulling her down the street.

"Great! Let's go!"

* * *

"Hmmm," Kousen remarked to herself as she peered at the two girls speeding down the street. "I wonder if one of them could be our next target." Kousen and Hatsugoori had set out a little after four to try and find their next target. Central Control hadn't sent out a message yet, so they decided to take matters into their own hands. At the moment, they were standing near an open-air market, trying to blend in.

"What do you think, Hatsu?" Turning back to her partner, she saw her happily eating out of an ice cream cup. Kousen lifted a brow questioningly.

"What in the world are you eating?"

Happily, Hatsugoori gulped down another spoonful of vanilla ice cream. "Kousen! I mean, Kasai uh, chan! You _have_ to try this!" Shoving the cup in Kousen's face, she continued. "I finally found something that I like about this disgraceful planet! It's called ice cream, and it's delectably cold and, _hey_!" Her rant was cut short as Kousen smacked it out of her hands.

"Will you stop eating and get focused!" Kousen seethed. Hatsugoori wasn't paying attention to her as she was staring forlornly at her fallen treat. Slowly looking up at Kousen, Hatsugoori felt a cold rage fill her. [Why does she always have to ruin my fun!]

Lashing out, Hatsugoori swiftly grabbed Kousen by her collar and pulled her close to her face. Shards of ice began to steadily inch their way toward Kousen's neck.

"Don't _ever_ do that again." Hatsugoori seethed, low and dangerous. Rolling her eyes, Kousen just smacked her hand away. Looking down at her shirt, she blew a small cloud of steam to melt the ice. Glaring at Hatsugoori, she walked past her in the direction that Usagi and Andrea had gone.

"Stop being so dramatic and come on. I'm thirsty and I think a coffee shop is this way."

Crossing her arms across her chest to still her hands from shooting out ice shards at the infuriating red head, Hatsugoori reluctantly followed.

"Coffee shop? How'd you become so knowledgeable about Earth anyway?" Hatsugoori muttered to herself.

"_I_ actually paid attention to my lessons," Kousen called back to her. "It's useful for an assassin to know all there is to know about her enemies."

Hatsugoori fought hard to hide her surprise. [How'd she hear me?]

* * *

"So what were you doing in the park anyway?"

Andrea started in surprise at Usagi's question. Noisily slurping up the last of her soda, she pushed away her cup and looked at the pigtailed blonde.

The blonde in question sat, French fry in mid air, anxiously waiting her answer.

"Well," she started. "I'm new to town and I just wanted to walk around, ya know, get familiar with the place. I was just walking by when I noticed how pretty the park was and decided to drop in. That's when I found that weird dead area and bumped into you. Hey," Andrea said, cocking a brow. "What were _you_ doing in that dead area?"

"Just looking around. It's just so curious to see one area of the park that doesn't grow, you know? Just wondering why." Usagi lied smoothly. "So when did you move to Japan?"

Luna sat open mouthed, gaping at Usagi. How was she able to lie so smoothly? Her! The Queen of blab, the duchess of oblivious! How? How could she have ever come up with a lie so smoothly, and still change the subject! The little black cat couldn't decide whether she was proud of her evading an awkward situation, saddened at the fact that she had to learn to lie so well, or just be shocked that it happened. Luna just settled down into Usagi's bag and decided that it was time for a nap. Usagi's burst of brilliance was just too much for her, and she didn't have time for a migraine at the moment.

"Oh…um," Andrea looked sheepishly at the table. Usagi tilted her head curiously. Was it a hard question? Did Andrea not understand what she said? Usagi sure hoped she did, because she didn't know any way that she could communicate in English. [Too bad Ami isn't here.]

"I really didn't move here," The raven-haired beauty said. "Not permanently anyway. I just came over to handle some family business. My dad had a few business partners over here. Since he died, it's been up to me to handle the company. I came over to discuss some things with them. Afterwards, I'm headed back to the States."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear about your dad." Usagi was instantly saddened to hear that the girl had lost her father. She didn't know what she would do without her own.

"Where's your mom?"

Again, Andrea looked uncomfortable. "I…uh…really haven't seen my mother since I was very young. I don't really like to talk about it."

Usagi nodded in understanding, but was steadily feeling worse and worse for the girl.

"So you're over here alone?"

Andrea shrugged her shoulders and laughed slightly, but it held no humor.

"Yeah."

Usagi's heart really ached for her. Here she was, in a strange country, all alone, with no one to really care for her. No friends, no family, no one. How could she stand to be alone? How could she stand going about the day, not having anyone to talk to? To laugh with?

Usagi thought back to the time when she thought that her friends had deserted her and left her to fend for herself. She was crushed. Luckily for her, it was just a ploy to distract the enemy, but for Andrea, this was real life. For Andrea, there was no, 'oh you know we weren't serious, stop being such a ditz'. She was alone. Usagi made her decision then and there.

"Well," she said, with all of the determination of a warrior, standing up. Andrea's head snapped up at her tone.

"Not anymore!"

Andrea just blinked in confusion. "What?"

Slamming her hand down on the table, Usagi announced, "You don't have to be alone anymore! I, Tsukino Usagi vow to be your friend for your entire stay in Japan! Nothing, and I mean _nothing_, shall tear us apart, and if it does, they'll have to answer to me!"

Andrea just stared at Usagi, as it became deathly quiet in the Crown. All of the arcade's clientele gaped at the blonde's loud declaration, and Andrea was very embarrassed by the sudden stares. Usagi for her part really didn't care, as she had one of these outbursts at least twice a day. Today's just came a little late.

Pushing her embarrassment aside, Andrea did the only thing that came to mind. She laughed.

And laughed.

And laughed.

Usagi slowly sat back down, all the while staring at Andrea quizzically. [Did I say something funny?]

Wiping a stray tear from her eye, Andrea finally stopped laughing. "I-I'm sorry." She said. "But you were just so cute!"

[Ooookay…not exactly the response I was expecting…]

Usagi's feelings were just a little hurt. To think, she had just stood up and made a totally selfless public declaration, telling her that she would be her friend so that she wouldn't be alone anymore, and she was laughing? Yeah, Usagi's pride was stung. She could have at least accepted.

"Usagi?"

The moon princess looked at the now composed American.

"Thank you. I am very glad that you will be my friend."

Then again, Usagi had always been quick to forgive. Usagi beamed and nodded happily. "Great! I'll have to introduce you to my other friends. I'm sure they'll love you!"

* * *

Kousen sipped her soda slowly, trying to drown out Hatsugoori's constant complaining. They had arrived at the Crown arcade not too long after the blonde and her friend, and found a booth near the door. Kousen instantly regretted allowing Hatsugoori to even sit with her, since she hadn't stopped babbling, _loudly_ since they sat down.

She found that the ice assassin was very hard to ignore, as her left eye twitched every time she opened her mouth. The red head wished with all her might that she could just go _one_ second without having to endure the torture that was Hatsugoori. She couldn't get rid of her! First she had to join the Daughter's ranks, then they had to live together, now, they were stuck on this stupid mission together! And the idiot wouldn't shut up!

Hatsugoori, for her part, was still a bit miffed at Kousen for smacking down her ice cream cup. It was the one thing that she had found so far, besides the men of course, that caught her interest on this stupid planet, and that whacked out psycho had to destroy it! Hatsugoori had always been one to hold a grudge, and this time was no different. So no, she was _not_ going to sit idly by and let Kousen enjoy her drink in peace. Yes, she was going to bug her, and nag her, and make her want to crawl under a rock and die until she had her fill. At least it would make her think twice before knocking down another ice cream cup.

Did Kousen regret smacking away that stupid cup? Oh yes, yes she did. She regretted it with all her heart. She regretted not taking the cup calmly from Hatsugoori. She regretted not walking slowly up to Hatsugoori. And she regretted not shoving that damned ice cream cup down Hatsugoori's pretty little throat!

At this point, Kousen had all but smashed her soda can to bits, purple liquid fizzing out of the sides, and the jagged edges of the can biting into her skin. This was missed by Hatsugoori who was busy ranting about the blue-gray of the waiter's eyes reminding her of something about Mercury that Kousen didn't particularly care about. Though when she thought about it, she really should have, since her partner's rants about her home planet could blow their cover at any given second. Just as Kousen was about to throw the soda wreckage at her partners head, their cell phones rang, surprising them both.

Grateful for the distraction, Kousen pushed her ruined beverage to the side and swiftly pulled out her phone. Fortunately for her, Hatsugoori shut up long enough to watch her retrieve the message.

"Who's it from?" Hatsugoori asked innocently, while simultaneously batting her eyes at the waiter who had stopped by to clean up the mess. Seeming a little uncomfortable, the waiter hurried his task and was gone in an instant. Hatsugoori pouted, and snapped her fingers.

Kousen didn't even give the boy a second glance. She was too busy staring incredulously at Hatsugoori.

"What do you mean, who's it from?" Kousen all but yelled. "Who else?!"

Obviously not caring for the well being of Kousen's sanity, Hatsugoori just smirked slightly and brought her finger to her lips.

"Shhhh," she admonished. "You might want to lower your voice a little, Kousen dear. You don't want to bring any unwanted attention to yourself."

Gritting her teeth, she pushed the small phone towards Hatsugoori. She wanted nothing more than to bring some very much needed pain to the self-proclaimed princess, but that could wait until later.

"It's from Central Control," Kousen said lowly, fighting her temper. "They've found the first target."

"Really?" Hatsugoori asked, curiosity piqued. She snatched up the phone and looked at the picture on the screen. It was of a pretty young woman, sixteen or seventeen years old. She had orange hair, streaked with lines of white, and a piercing in her eyebrow and nose. Her alabaster skin was only slightly darker than Hatsugoori's and she appeared to be singing, eyes closed, apparently caught up in the moment. "Ugh, it's a girl," the Mercurian sneered, nose turned up in disgust. "Not even worth my time."

"You'd better make her worth your time," Kousen hissed, reaching out to grab her phone back. Out of habit, Hatsugoori held it out of her reach just in time, grinning mischievously. Letting her hand fall onto the table, Kousen highly considered killing Hatsugoori then and there, consequences be damned. Instead, she took a deep breath and tried again.

"She is worth your time, because she is vital to our mission in finding the crystals for our Queen. This girl just may hold a crystal." A sudden wicked thought crossed Kousen's mind, she pulled back her arm and rested her face in her palm. "And we _both_ know how important it is to please our Queen, don't we? We wouldn't want to bring down her wrath again, hmmm Hatsu… I mean, Himeko-chan?"

That struck a nerve in Hatsugoori. Lost for words, she simply gaped at Kousen for a second until anger took over. Narrowing her eyes dangerously, she began to rise from her seat, all too prepared to wring Kousen's neck for even referring to a time when she had been vulnerable and helpless.

Kousen was all to ready for her attack. She wouldn't hesitate to fire off some of her own. She was easily capable of handling the mission on her own. Plus, she wouldn't have to worry about punishment because Hatsugoori started it. She didn't even care about exposing herself, she just needed one good punch!

_Come on snowflake_, Kousen thought to herself. _Bring it on!_

At that moment, Usagi yelled out her friendship declaration, effectively startling the two assassins…again.

Hatsugoori jumped in surprise, yelping slightly. The cell phone that she had been gripping slipped out of her fingers and flew into the air. Forgetting about the ice shards that began to form on her fingertips, Hatsugoori grappled for it, effectively freezing it solid. Shocked at the sudden cool touch of the phone, she let it slip through her fingers.

After her initial surprise at Usagi's outburst, Kousen could do nothing but watch in shock as her tracking device fell. The light way that the phone hit the ground did it no good, as it shattered instantly on contact.

Kousen couldn't move. Well, she could move, but she knew that if she did, Hatsugoori would be nothing more than dust in the wind.

Hatsugoori was no fool. She knew what kind of temper Kousen had, and she knew that her breaking the fire assassin's tool that was issued from their Queen herself was something that would provoke it.

Of all the Daughters, Kousen nearly matched Kokuten's determination when it came to completing a mission. All facts had to be together, all plans organized, and all aids in tact. If one single fragment was out of place, there'd be hell to pay, and Kousen would be glad to dish it out. She could be just as lethal as their leader if provoked.

At this moment, Hatsugoori feared that she might have provoked Kousen's wrath. If she advanced on her, she would fight ferociously, but she was no dummy to the fact that Kousen's fire would evaporate her attacks in an instant. Luckily, Hatsugoori knew that she was quicker than Kousen. Though they were partners, Hatsugoori made it a fact to know all of the Daughter's strengths and weaknesses. Though supposed sisters, she never knew when the time would come for her to have to defend herself against one of them. Kousen especially.

To Hatsugoori, the silence in the Crown was deafening. It was as if everyone present was waiting on something. Most present were waiting to see the blonde haired girl's friend reaction to her statement, and were completely oblivious to the silent battle between the two assassins. Others didn't care one way or the other, but didn't want to be the first to break the silence and draw the attention upon their selves. Hatsugoori didn't care about any of them at the moment, except for Kousen. Her silence couldn't mean anything good.

Kousen never took her eyes off of the floor. Hatsugoori was right. It was taking all of the willpower in Kousen's body to keep her from torching the place out of anger. Kousen was smart not to look in Hatsugoori's direction. If the girl had so much as gazed her way, Kousen wouldn't think twice about incinerating her. She had broken her phone, a tool that the Queen would _not _be happy to replace.

She knew that she could not return to headquarters anytime soon, unless she had a crystal in hand, especially not for something as trivial as receiving a new phone. They had just been dispatched yesterday; her Queen would not be happy to see that things already seemed to be going downhill. Kousen would be the one to take the brunt of her fury because she was supposed to be the responsible one. She was supposed to clean up Hatsugoori's mess, not the other way around.

Kousen closed her eyes, and focused her breathing. As bad as she wanted to, she knew that it would not be wise to lose her cool. For one, she would expose the two of them, and the mission would be over before it even began. Secondly, she knew that once she lost control, there would be no turning back, and it would ultimately lead her to a place that she never wanted to go again; a place that lead her to her Queen in the first place.

Knowing that she had to keep the mission first, she slowly calmed herself. There was no point in getting too upset now. After all, they did have another phone.

Slowly raising her head, she gazed coolly at Hatsugoori. To her amusement (slight amusement), the cerulean assassin couldn't meet her gaze. She knew that Kousen would be angry, and she knew of the possible consequences. Kousen couldn't help but revel in the small sense of satisfaction Hatsugoori's wariness brought.

"Don't. Don't say a word," Kousen said evenly. Hatsugoori's head snapped toward her, confusion etched across her face. Everything was returning to normal in the arcade, so only the intended heard her words.

"Not one word," Kousen repeated, pointing at the broken shards. "We are not without. We know our assignment." Hatsugoori nodded in understanding. If Kousen didn't want to speak on the incident, then who was she to force her?

Without a word, Kousen turned and headed out of the Crown, Hatsugoori right behind her.

* * *

Ami walked slowly down the street, hardly paying attention to the conversation Makoto and Minako were having. They had met up with the blonde on their way to the Crown for their normal afternoon snack and gab session. Well, normal afternoon snack and half gab session for Ami since she always had her nose in a book. The two had opted to wait for Usagi, but Ami had informed them that she'd said that she had some business to take care of after school. Not needing anymore of an explanation, they'd set out.

For now, Ami was slightly glad that Usagi was not with them at the moment, though she felt slightly guilty about it. If the meatball headed princess were there, she would have instantly picked up on Ami's less than happy mood, and pestered her about it. Right now, she just wanted to have her mind clear so she could think. Her friends always teased her about that. How she'd retreat inside herself to figure out a very complex problem and shut out the rest of the world. They would say that not even a hurricane could rouse her from her thoughts. She supposed they were right. But that was just how she dealt with things. The others would just have to accept that.

On the outside, she was perfectly normal, going about the day and acting as she normally had, but there was a war raging inside of her. She was still silently brooding over the fact that her computer had failed her. Yes, she knew that her friends had told her not to worry about it, but she couldn't help it. She was Ami; she worried. She absolutely _hated_ when there was a problem whose solution was just beyond her reach. She knew that with the right amount of time she could figure it out, but her feelings of failure were occupying much of her brainpower that wasn't reserved for school or not becoming a science and math-loving block of ice.

Ami couldn't help but feel that she had let her friends down. They had always depended on her for a somewhat immediate answer to their problems, and she had always complied. She had gotten the Senshi out of more situations with her mind than she could count. And that had always pleased her. She always felt good when she was able to help someone.

Even in the beginning, when she had first received her henshin wand, her computer had been her trusted ally. She relied on it even more then, because all she'd had to contribute in battle was her Shabon Spray. Sure, it had saved their butts countless times, but she couldn't help but feel slightly inferior to the other Senshi. When it came to offensive maneuvers, she was easily thwarted, and that hurt. She wanted to help, she wanted to defend, but with just her spray, she felt depressingly limited.

That's why she favored her computer so. It gave her an advantage that the enemy never had. She always seemed to be one step ahead, always ready with some pointer to give, to dust all opponents. Thought she thought it slightly selfish, she liked the fact that the others had to turn to her to know how to destroy a particularly difficult youma. She knew that they depended on her, that they couldn't win without her. She felt needed. She felt wanted. And she hadn't felt that way until she realized who she was, or rather who she was _meant_ to be.

Now that her computer was failing her, she felt lost. That last battle had been luck, and she didn't know of any soldiers who survived long on sheer luck alone. When the next battle came, (and she was sure there'd be more), how was she going to get them out of sticky situations? Yes, she had her mind, but her brain could only process so much. She needed time to analyze, to pinpoint data, but her brainpower was nothing compared to the speed of the Mercury computer.

Ami sighed heavily as she realized that she _depended_ on her computer. Sure now, she was a lot stronger and more experienced than she had been in her early days as a Senshi, and didn't really _need_ the computer at times, but it was her security blanket. It was what she turned to in troubled times, when it seemed like there was no hope left. She had found Beryl's D-point with that computer. She had found Ail and Ann's tree with that computer. She had beat Nehelenia's copy with that computer. So what was she to do now, since it didn't seem to discern information about this new enemy?

If there was one thing she knew, it was that this enemy was strong. _Very_ strong. What happened when they were backed into a corner and the enemy was unbeatable? They couldn't very well depend on that strange force that helped them last time. They would have to figure out a new way to deal, and the others would be turning to Ami to do it.

The blue haired genius started as Minako's loud laughter filled the air. Obviously, she had missed one of Makoto's jokes. She wasn't too sure that she was all that disappointed. Ami smiled to herself and chuckled mirthlessly.

She wished that she could express her feelings with her friends, but she knew they'd never understand. They'd just tell her to stop dwelling, and that everything would work out. They'd say she was a valuable part of their team without the computer, and she had more to offer than her brains, blah blah blah. All lines she'd heard before. Of course, it was true, but it didn't do anything to placate Ami's tortured pride. She was Mizuno Ami, future M.D. Dwelling was what she was good at. She was too old to break that habit now.

Ami started again as she realized that Makoto was talking to her.

"Hello? Jupiter to Ami?"

A slight blush stained her cheeks as she realized that they had stopped walking. Looking up, she saw the sliding glass doors of the Crown Arcade staring back at her.

Laying a friendly hand on her shoulder, Makoto looked into her eyes cheerfully. "Hey, where'd you go Ames?" she asked smiling.

"Yeah, we thought you'd left your body for a minute, you were so quiet," Minako added. She put her hand on her hip, and pointed a finger at Ami's nose. "Were you dwelling again?"

Ami blinked. Surprisingly, Minako had figured her out. The girl had more brains that they gave her credit for.

"I…that is…um…"

Makoto groaned. "You _were_ dwelling." She said. "Let me guess, about your computer again, right?" She took Ami's silence as a yes.

Minako slapped her palm to her forehead.

"Ami!" she drawled. "You've _got_ to stop worrying. We told you everything'd turn out all right in the end. They always do."

"She's right," Makoto chirped. "And they will. Even if we have to fly to Mercury to get you a doohickey that'll upgrade it ourselves."

Ami couldn't resist cracking a small smile. No, her friends may not understand exactly how she felt, but they tried their best to make her feel better. That was all she could really ask for…she guessed.

"Ah! A smile!" Minako pronounced. "Mako-chan! She's alive!"

"Great," Makoto said, grabbing Ami's wrist. "And now that's Nurse Mina's diagnosis is complete, how about we treat the future good doctor to a milkshake?"

"Sounds good to me!"

Ami couldn't help but giggle as they led her into the arcade, narrowly missing a red haired woman and a pretty blue haired woman at her heels. Ami silently wondered where they were off to in such a rush, but immediately forgot about it when the trio spotted Usagi at their regular booth.

"Hey Usagi!" Makoto called, but stopped short when she reached the booth. "Oh," she said when she saw Andrea sitting there, remnants of a smile on her face. "Hello. Usagi, who's your friend?"

Usagi smiled when she saw the same curious faces on Minako and Ami. "Minna, this is my new friend Andrea. She just moved here from America." She introduced. "Andrea, these are my best friends, Minako, Makoto, and Ami." Usagi said, pointing at each one in turn.

The trio bowed. "Nice to meet you."

Andrea smiled. "Likewise."

"Come on guys," Usagi said, scooting over, "Grab a seat." The girls hurriedly slid into the booth. Makoto immediately started scooping out Motoki. Turning to Usagi, she asked. "Ne, Usagi, have you seen Motoki-kun since you've been here?"

Looking thoughtful for a moment, Usagi began to look around. "Hmm. I really haven't been paying much attention Mako-chan." She confessed. "We haven't really been here that long."

"Oh," Makoto actually looked disappointed for a moment. Suddenly, she brightened. "Well, I'll just go look for him. Be right back!" With a small wave, she scooted back out of the booth and sped off, leaving a slightly stunned group of girls in her wake. Andrea snorted a laugh, not bothering to hide her mirth.

"Is she always like this?" Andrea asked, still smiling. Recovering, Usagi giggled. "Yep, that's our boy crazy Mako-chan," Andrea nodded. "So, who's Motoki? Her boyfriend?"

"Absolutely not!" Minako yelled, standing in defiance. "There is no _possible_ way that Mako-chan could've gotten her hands on him first!"

Covering her hand with her eyes, Ami let out a long suffering sigh. "Sit _down_ Mina-chan," she said, tugging her friend back to her seat.

"Umm, I think Reika-chan got her hand on him first, Mina-chan," Usagi offered to a put out Minako.

"So," the golden Senshi said with a pout. "A girl can dream can't she?"

"When it comes to Nii-chan, that better be _all_ you do," came a voice from behind the girls. Minako started as she realized who it was.

"Unazuki!" Mina exclaimed, scratching her head and laughing nervously. "What brings you here?"

Laughing, Motoki's little sister smoothed out her apron. "Um, I kind of work here, Minako?"

"Oh, yeah."

Minako reared back suddenly as Unazuki playfully poked her in the nose. "You'd better not be trying to seduce my brother," the she said with a wink. "If you don't you'll have one very steamed archaeologist on your tail. And Reika is _mean_ when she's angry."

Gulping audibly, Minako pushed Unazuki's finger away. "Oh come on, Unazuki-chan," she said, waving her hand and smiling. "You know I was just kidding." Leaning closer to the redhead, Minako stage whispered, "It's Mako-chan that you _really_ have to worry about!"

"Worry about what?"

Minako blinked, and slowly peered around Unazuki to see a confused Makoto with an amused Motoki in tow. Smiling sweetly, Minako tried to play it off. "Oh nothing, Makoto dear. Hi Motoki!"

Sliding back into the booth, Makoto kept a wary eye on Minako. She may not have known what the blonde had said, but by the way she turned the sap on full blast, she knew that it couldn't have been too nice. She decided to ignore it…for now.

Wiping his hands on his ever-present blue cloth, Motoki stepped closer to the table, bid hello to the girls, and looked upon his sister in surprise. "Unazuki!" he exclaimed. "It's about time you got here. I've been waiting. You're here to take over, right?"

Rolling her eyes comically at the girls, Unazuki turned to her brother. "Yes, yes, nii-chan." She drawled. "I'm here to take over your shift. Wouldn't want for you to miss your precious concert."

"Concert?" Usagi asked, snapping to attention. "What concert?"

"Well," Motoki began. "It's not really a concert, per say. It's an opera."

"An opera?" Usagi echoed, with a small amount of disdain. Motoki laughed. "Not the kind of opera you're thinking about," he said. "It's more upbeat. It's like a musical slash rock concert. They're calling it a rock-pra."

"Hey, I've heard of that!" Makoto exclaimed. "It was really big in England. I heard a kid in my Kendo class talking about it. She said it was nothing like she'd ever seen before. I never thought that they would show in Japan, though."

"That sounds interesting," Ami said. "I didn't see any advertisements for it though. I wonder why?" She sent a questioning glance Motoki's way.

"Well," Motoki said. "Tonight isn't really an official opening night. It's like a preview. They only sent out about 1,000 or so tickets to certain people. If they got a good review, then they'd open officially to the public."

"Well how'd you get tickets, Motoki-kun?" Minako asked. With a glint in her eye, she leaned forward expectantly. "And how many did you get?"

"Well, I got mine from one of my classmates," the arcade manager explained. "He works for the theater that's hosting the event, and he managed to get three extra tickets."

"Well who're you going to take?" Usagi asked. "Besides Reika of course."

A somewhat distraught expression crossed Motoki's face. "Well, I don't really know. I would give it to Mamoru, but I don't know where he'd get an extra ticket. I know he wouldn't go without you, Usagi-chan."

"Darn straight!" Usagi exclaimed. The girls all rolled their eyes. Kami-sama knows how much they hoped that Usagi wouldn't go into any of her 'Mamo-chan' rants. The girl had enough stories, quips, and fantasies to last three lifetimes.

Luckily for them, she was intercepted by Andrea.

"Wow. That really sounds like fun. I wish I could go," the raven-haired beauty commented, chin in palm. Motoki blinked in confusion, realizing for the first time that someone was there that he didn't know.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't realize you girls had a new friend. How rude of me," Motoki said, throwing his hand behind his head.

"It's ok. You were in a hurry to go to your concert," Andrea said. Standing, she offered her hand to Motoki. "Hi. I'm Andrea."

Motoki stared at the hand for a minute, then smiled and shook it vigorously. Andrea was visibly taken aback.

"Oh, you're American!" Motoki said in English. "It's very nice to meet you," Andrea's eyes lit up and a bright smile almost broke her face. "You speak English!" She replied in the same grabbing his other hand and squeezing tight. "That's great! That means that you can help me out when I don't know how to say something, or if I just want to talk about something and just don't want to speak Japanese!"

"Whoa, whoa!" Motoki said, pulling his hands away and holding them up in defense. Switching back to Japanese, he said, "I didn't say I was fluent. I just know a good amount."

"Oh," Andrea said, obviously deflated. She perked back up instantly. "Well, that's okay," she replied in Japanese. "It's still good to know someone who speaks English."

"Ami-chan speaks English too, Andrea-chan," Usagi offered. Andrea hid a smile at the new honorific after her name. Turning excitedly towards the blue-haired genius, she asked, "Really?"

Ami nodded. "I've been studying it for awhile now. I believe I'm near fluent."

"Yeah in English, and about fifty other languages." Makoto quipped. Ami blushed slightly, and waved Makoto off. "Oh, stop Mako-chan."

The smile returned to Andrea's face. "I don't care how many languages you can speak. I'm just glad that I have someone else that I can talk to."

"See!" Usagi squealed, hugging Andrea's shoulders. "I told you you'd get along with my friends!"

"Yeah, you were right, Usagi," Andrea chuckled. "They're cool. Hey, do you speak English too?"

Usagi's eyes got wide, and she quickly withdrew her arms, scooting as far away from Andrea as she could, sweating profusely.

"Uhhhhhh…"

Everyone else hid their smiles behind their hands. Patting the distraught Usagi's hand, Minako answered for her. "Let's just say that Usagi's talents lie…elsewhere."

"And leave it at that," Makoto finished.

Everyone laughed. Turning toward Motoki, Ami asked, "When does the concert start?"

"Oh, around seven," he replied. "Oh," Ami said. "Well, that's only two hours from now."

"Ah! It is?!" the blonde arcade owner exclaimed in surprise. "I've gotta go! I told Reika that I would meet her early for a quick dinner!"

With that, Motoki sped off with a final "Bye nee-chan!" and left six bewildered girls staring after him.

"Hmph," Unazuki muttered, her hands on her hips. "Never knew that he could run that fast."

"Me neither," Minako said, distractedly. "He almost beat your record Usagi-chan."

Usagi waved her hand and exaggeratedly rolled her eyes. "Ha. Not even. It'll take a lot more speed than that to beat my record." The pigtailed blonde turned and glared at Minako. "How very Rei-like, Mina-chan."

Minako scratched her head. "Well, I guess someone had to fill in while she's not here, odango."

"Don't you start!"

Andrea burst out laughing. "Odango?!" She gasped out. Pointing at Usagi's hair, she started laughing even harder. "They _do_ look like meatballs!"

Usagi shrank even lower in her seat. "Thanks Mina-chan," she mumbled. "I really didn't want her to know about that."

"Sorry," Mina chirped. "She would have found out eventually anyway."

"N-no, I'm sorry," Andrea said, catching her breath. "It was just so funny…and very descriptive." She patted Usagi's shoulder. "But don't worry, I won't call you that."

Usagi nodded and smiled at her new friend. "Thanks, Andrea-chan."

"…I'll just wait until I know you a little better first."

Usagi facefaulted as the others laughed.

"Well girls, I have to get to work," Unazuki announced, turning to leave. "Give my regards to Rei-chan when you see her!"

"Bye, Unazuki-chan!" the girls chorused. "Hey," Ami spoke up. "Where is Rei-chan, anyway?"

As if summoned by name alone, the raven-haired miko in question burst through the doors of Crown, tiny slips of paper in hand.

"Hey guys!" she called out as she spotted her group of friends. "Sorry I'm la-!" Screeching to a halt, Rei stared, slightly wide eyed at Andrea.

The miko was supremely puzzled. As soon as she laid eyes on the Andrea, she felt a presence struggling to make itself known in her mind.

[What…what is this I'm feeling?] She thought to herself. Narrowing her eyes, Rei discreetly scrutinized the newcomer. [Why am I getting this strange feeling about her? It's not evil, but it's…something. Almost…familiar]

"Rei-chan? Are you alright?" Usagi asked, puzzled. Snapping out of it, Rei smiled slightly. "Yeah…sorry I'm late." She apologized distractedly.

Usagi looked unconvinced but said nothing. She had seen that look in Rei's eyes, and she knew that there was something that her friend was not telling her.

"Man, _what_ is going on today?" Minako asked, a bright smile on her face. "Everyone seems to be switching personalities! First, Motoki-kun tries to break Usagi's track record, now Rei's late and Usagi's on time!" she laughed. "It's like Revenge of the Body Snatchers or something!"

"Ha ha, funny Mina-chan," Rei said sarcastically, unconsciously straightening her clothes.

"What's up Rei?" Makoto asked, nodding in thanks to the waitress who brought over three plates of fries and a milkshake for Ami. "Why'd you burst in like that?"

"Yeah," Usagi said, stealing one of Makoto's fries, ignoring the glare that she received. "And what's that in your hand?"

"Hmm?" Rei looked down at her right hand where the papers were, completely forgetting the purpose for her trip. "Oh, right!"

Slapping the papers down on the table, and smirking at how her friends jumped, Rei exclaimed. "I, the great Hino Rei, have done it again! I set my sights on something and it was obtained. Nothing can keep me from my goal!" She began to laugh triumphantly.

The rest of the girls present all sweatdropped. "Umm, Rei-chan?" Ami started cautiously. "What are you talking about?"

Sliding into the booth next to Ami, Rei pushed the tickets to the middle of the table for everyone to see.

"Well," she began excitedly, "We were having this raffle at school to help raise money to build a new gym after it randomly exploded last year and I've been entering tickets for like a week and out of everyone who entered I won! And luckily for me, the prize was five tickets to that hot new 'rock-pra' that's like all the rage in England and you all get to go! Except her, who's this?" Rei asked after her ramble, pointing at Andrea at the end.

Startled, Usagi, Ami, Minako, and Makoto, followed Rei's finger, while Andrea went almost cross-eyed looking down the appendage. It took them a minute to process all that Rei had said, and realized that she had asked a question. Being that she was Usagi's friend, she was the one to answer. "Oh yeah. I keep forgetting you guys haven't met. Hino Rei, this is Andrea…" Usagi stopped her introduction and turned to her new friend. "Say Andrea-chan. What's your last name?"

"Cross," the foreigner answered, digging into her fries. Usagi nodded and turned to Rei. "Well, there you go."

Andrea looked back up and nodded at Rei. "Nice to meet you," she said. "Charmed," Rei responded flatly, not fully looking at the girl. Andrea noticed and narrowed her eyes slightly, but kept her mouth shut.

"Wait a minute," Makoto spoke up suddenly, making sure her fry basket was out of a certain someone's reach. "Rei-chan, did you say that you had tickets to that new 'rock-pra'?"

Spinning around to face her friend, Rei grabbed the tickets from the table. "Yeah!" she beamed. "Wanna go?"

"You bet!" Minako exclaimed, snatching a ticket from Rei. "We were just talking about it with Motoki-kun. He's going, and we all realized we wanted to go. Now we can!"

The girls all cheered and began to talk excitedly about going and what they were going to wear. Out of the corner of her eye, Usagi could see that Andrea looked a little put out. She gasped as she realized what was wrong.

"Wait a minute!" she exclaimed, effectively stopping the girls' chatter. "What is it?" Rei asked, taking a couple of Makoto's fries. Makoto was about to protest about everyone taking her fries, but remembered that Rei didn't have any of her own.

"We forgot about Andrea-chan!" the blonde said. "We don't have an extra ticket for her."

Andrea's head snapped up and she waved her hands in a noncommittal motion. "No, don't worry about me." She said, sweatdropping slightly. "You guys go. Have fun. I've got other things to do anyway."

"Nonsense," Usagi said. "You were just saying not twenty minutes ago how much you'd like to go. You couldn't have possibly found something to do between then and now." She turned calculating eyes onto the girl. "Right?"

Andrea's sweatdrop grew. "Uhhh…"

"Hey," Ami spoke up. "What about that extra ticket that Motoki has? He probably wouldn't mind giving it to Cross-san."

"That's right," Usagi said, snapping her fingers. "I almost forgot." She proceeded to reach into her purse, looking for her cell phone. Finding it with a triumphant, 'ah hah!' she flipped it open and started to dial Motoki's number. "I'll just call him right now and ask."

"But what about Mamoru-kun, Usagi-chan?" Minako asked. "I thought you would want to go with him?"

Stopping, Usagi looked up at Minako for a second, consternation crossing her features as she had not thought of that. With a final nod, Usagi resumed dialing the number. Holding it up to her ear, she said. "It's ok. Mamo-chan can buy his own ticket if he wants to go. I made a promise to Andrea–chan that I wouldn't leave her by herself and I'd hate to break it now."

Andrea weakly tried to protest, but Usagi was too determined. Sitting back in her seat, Andrea sighed deeply, but couldn't help the smile that was creeping across her lips.

_Thanks_, _Usagi_.


	6. Chapter Five

**_Title:_** Lost in the Sea of Serenity: An Altered Destiny

**_Author: _**S Dot Serenity

**_Disclaimer_:** Don't own Sailor Moon. But Ayakami and the Daughters of the Sun are mine! All mine! Ha ha ha!**

* * *

**

**Chapter 5**

Ayakami Nanohara a.k.a Phenom winked at herself as she applied one last swipe of her lipstick. It was only fifteen minutes until show time, and she had to look her best. After all, it wasn't everyday that one got to perform in front of the citizens of their home country.

And she was one of Japan's best. At sixteen, Ayakami was practically notorious in Japan, only not entirely publicly.

When she was born, the doctors had been baffled at the strange mass of bright orange and white hair slicked to the little girls head, especially coming from two raven-haired parents. The next shock had come when the infant opened her eyes and stared back at her parents with brilliant amber eyes.

Though perplexed, the parents were overcome by her beauty and knew that she would achieve greatness.

And that, she did. During her youth, Ayakami was always the best at everything. She was always the best in school, and all her extracurricular activities, and was the top ranked kendo champ for three years straight. When her parents stumbled across the fact that she could sing one day, Ayakami's life story began to take on a whole new turn.

Ayakami was incredible in all genres. Having traveled all over the world in her sport endeavors, she had acquired an appreciation for all types of music. Jazz, pop, opera, even yodeling, she had mastered it all. But she found her one true calling with rock.

Though everyone in her family wanted her to become a doctor, or a lawyer, or something of the sort, Ayakami felt her calling was music. At the age of thirteen, she got an agent, hit some talent shows, and was immediately signed to one of the best labels Japan had to offer. A few months later, she was scouted by an American label, and was swept off to the states where she was made lead singer of a new rock group called Phenomenon, donning the monicker Phenom. That's how she landed the role of Roxie in the new rockpra that was blazing the world over.

Not only was she an excellent performer, Ayakami had a kind heart as well. She made sure that some proceeds from her shows and album sales always went to a different charity, as she wanted to help as many people as she could. She knew that she had been blessed in life, and wanted to bring a little bit of happiness to the lives of others.

This among other things was the reason the orange-haired vixen was loved by so many. It also explained the dozens of flowers lining her dressing room.

Glancing at the clock, Ayakami realized that she only had a short while until show time. _A stage manager should be coming soon_. She thought to herself. Closing her eyes, she began to run through the different mantras and meditative chants that she always did before her performances. They calmed her, as she always got nervous before a show, and helped her focus on her task.

Lost in her meditative state, Ayakami started when there was a slight knock on her door. Glancing at herself once more in the mirror, the superstar got up to answer it.

"Yes?" she called, opening the door slightly. Ayakami was slightly shocked at the woman staring back at her from the other side of the door. She assumed the woman was indeed the stage manager from her headset, clipboard, and walkie-talkie strapped to her waist. What startled Ayakami was the crop of ice blue hair atop the woman's head, pulled back into a sloppy yet fashionable bun.

The superstar blinked. She hadn't known that anyone else in Japan had oddly colored hair as she did. Though, more people were dyeing their hair these days. Ayakami's eyes narrowed as she examined the woman's roots for any hint of her true hair color.

The stage manager stared back at the girl, a confused yet slightly annoyed expression on her face. Cradling her clipboard closer to her chest, she spoke.

"Nanohara-san," she stated, rather than asked. "You are needed by the stage entrance. We are almost ready to begin."

Startled out of her scrutiny, Ayakami flashed the wary woman a brilliant smile and nodded.

"Thanks for letting me know," the star said. She closed her door and moved past the stage manager with a little wave. "Bye now."

A disguised Hatsugoori watched Ayakami as she headed down the hall and turned the corner to be nearly run over by a herd of adoring fans that had managed to slip past security. Hatsugoori leaned against the wall, clipboard tight against her chest, and tried to ignore the shouts of 'We love you Phenom!' and 'Phenom, you're so beautiful!' and a strange shout of 'Would you do me the honor of bearing my child?'

The blue haired 'stage manager' snorted and shook her head. [_Stupid mortals. Fawning all over a waste of a girl like her_.] She unconsciously began to pat her hair. [_I'm much better looking anyw-_] Her thoughts came to an abrupt halt as she remembered the scrutiny the orange haired girl had given her. Instantly conjuring up a mirror, she frantically checked her hair. [_What the hell had that freak been staring at?]_

That was how Kousen found her. Dressed in black jeans, a black cap with her bright red ponytail sticking from the back, and a black t-shirt with SECURITY printed on the back, Kousen walked up to her partner and regarded her with a disapproving stare.

Feeling Kousen's gaze, Hatsugoori's head snapped up, and she rolled her eyes.

"What?" she snapped.

"Why is it that every time I see you, you're glued to a mirror?" Kousen drawled. Hatsugoori pulled a face and went back to gazing at herself.

"Spare me the lecture, torch," she said, pushing a stray hair back into place. "That little freak of a target was staring at my hair like it was, was…_red_ or something." Hatsugoori shuddered at the thought.

Kousen bit her tongue and fought to ignore the obvious jab sent her way. Sighing, she stuck out a finger, touching Hatsugoori's mirror lightly, and melted it instantly. Instead of the expected glare and yell that Kousen anticipated from her partner, all she received was an annoyed glance and an exasperated sigh.

"I really wish you'd stop doing that," Hatsugoori mumbled. Turning to face Kousen fully, she added, a bit louder, "Or I might be forced to hurt you."

"Well," Kousen said indignantly, crossing her arms across her chest. "I really wish that you'd get focused on the mission."

Tossing her now undone hair over her shoulder, Hatsugoori began to stroke it slowly. If Kousen wasn't the hardened warrior that she was, she would have been slightly afraid at the look that crossed Hatsugoori's eyes.

A steely resolve had crept into the Mercurian warrior's eyes. There was so much coldness and malice in their cerulean depths that Kousen had to wonder if it was still the same person. She dropped her hand quickly as she realized it was still pointing at Hatsugoori.

Hatsugoori smiled slightly at the action, but it did not reach her eyes. They remained cold, lifeless, and focused intently on Kousen.

"Oh, don't worry," Hatsugoori said softly, smoothly, almost deadly. "I am very much focused on this mission. My prey will not escape me."

Continually stroking her hair, the blue haired assassin turned away from the red-haired fire starter and began in the direction that Ayakami had strolled moments before. She slowed her step as Ayakami reemerged, having been pushed back by the horde of adoring fans. By the look on the rock-star's face, one could tell that she was trying to be polite as possible, but it was beginning to be a bit much.

Glancing back at Kousen, the 'stage manager' deadpanned in a monotone voice: "Don't you have a job to do?"

Kousen quickly snapped back to the present and remembered the bodyguard role she had donned to seem less suspicious to the rock-star and gain access backstage. Nodding curtly, she started off in a rush past Hatsugoori to get to a haggled Ayakami.

"Her spirit will be broken at intermission."

The cold words floated from Hatsugoori's lips to Kousen's ears as the red haired woman strode past. Not faltering in her step, Kousen tried hard to suppress an involuntary shudder. Hatsugoori's statement chilled her to her core. It wasn't what she said, but how she said it. Her words were cold, clipped, and full of deathly determination.

Hatsugoori was dead set on redeeming herself in the Queen's eye. For her sake, she hoped that the girl carried a crystal. On the other hand, if she did posses a crystal, she could easily snatch the victory from Hatsugoori. The cold feeling returned to Kousen's being as she felt Hatsugoori's stare. Kousen shook her head to expel the wariness.

[_Then again, maybe not_.]

Whatever the case was, Kousen felt a ping of pity for the girl in front of her, because Hatsugoori was going into battle, no holds barred.

* * *

"This is so great!" Usagi exclaimed as she strolled down the street, all of her friends in tow. "I can't believe we all get to go to the show!" Her lavender cocktail dress fluttered softly in the wind as she happily danced around the girls, lavender ribbons in her hair trailing behind her.

"Yeah, I'm really excited about it." Makoto said, readjusting her pastel green halter-top that draped low in the front, revealing a small but tasteful amount of cleavage. She had given up on her leather mini skirt long ago as the annoying thing kept riding up as she walked. She sighed internally; the price a girl pays for beauty.

Minako sighed reverently as she walked with her arms behind her head. "So many memories. How many times have we come to this theater to see a wonderful show?"

Rei snorted. "The question is, how many times have we come to this theater to actually finish a show without getting…distracted."

Minako blinked in confusion. "Distracted?" She readjusted the strap of her black spaghetti strap dress. "Distracted how?"

"Think about it." The miko deadpanned.

Staring off into space for a moment, Minako laughed sheepishly and sweatdropped slightly when she realized what Rei meant.

"Oh."

"Well, let's not let past memories cloud the excitement of tonight," Ami said, decked out in a belted pale blue halter dress.

"That's right!" Usagi exclaimed. "Tonight's all about fun! Besides, we have to show Andrea-chan a good time since this is her first real night out in Tokyo!"

The girl's nodded. Said foreigner was to meet them at the theater along with Motoki and Reika. Shortly after Andrea's ticket situation was resolved, the girls had departed to get ready for the night.

"Yep, all about fun, " A stunning Rei, dressed in black slacks, red tube top and fire red stiletto heels said, putting an arm around Usagi's shoulders. "And Usagi-chan is going to stay awake and pay attention to the whole thing, right Usagi-chan?" the miko asked the blonde through gritted teeth.

Usagi scoffed and feigned hurt. "Of course, Rei-chan," she said. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because a certain dark-haired prince isn't here to keep you focused on the show," Minako offered with a wink.

Usagi pouted slightly at that. When she had told Mamoru about the musical, he seemed really interested, but couldn't go due to late night sessions at the hospital he was interning at. He promised he'd catch up with her later. The blonde wasn't too put out, because she knew that tonight, her main focus would be making sure Andrea had a good time.

"Well, we don't have to worry about that," Makoto said. "Because we have a certain dark-haired priestess who'll be more than happy to fill in!"

Everyone laughed except for Usagi who cut her eyes at Rei. "As if she could take the place of my Mamo-chan."

Lightly swatting Usagi on the head, Rei said, "Oh pipe down, Usagi-chan. The Kami's know I would never want to take Mamoru's place and have to tolerate having _you _on my arm twenty four seven."

Any snappy comment the moon princess would have made was cut off by Ami's shout of "Hey, isn't that Andrea-san?"

The group looked up to see that it was indeed Andrea standing in front of the theater, looking around sparingly. Spotting the group about a block down, she began to wave frantically.

"Hey everyone!" she called.

Hurrying their pace, the group of girls happily greeted their friend. Amidst all of the compliments on their respective styles of dress, Andrea looking gorgeous in a black pencil skirt with sheer white top over a black camisole and waist belt, Usagi looked around for the two other, noticeably absent, ticket holders.

"Hey, Andrea-chan," Usagi asked. "Where's Motoki-kun and Reika-san?" Giggling at a joke Makoto just made, Andrea turned to Usagi. "Oh, they're already inside. I told them that I would wait outside for you guys."

"Well let's not keep them waiting any longer!!" Minako exclaimed, hooking Ami's elbow in her's. "Let's go!"

The girls all nodded and traipsed inside, with Andrea leading the way.

* * *

Kousen sighed impatiently as she peaked behind the curtain at the crowd. [So many people!] she mused. [This is going to be messy.] Hearing a small crash behind her, the fire girl whirled around, hand hidden behind her back engulfed in flame. She rolled her eyes as she realized it was just Hatsugoori, tripping over an errant bucket backstage. Apparently, she wasn't too happy about her bout of clumsiness as she glared at the bucket as if expecting it to react back.

Turning toward her partner, Kousen waved to get her attention. When she had it, she said in a rushed whisper, "There's a ton of people out there!"

"So?" Hatsugoori asked, walking to where Kousen was peaking through the curtain. "So?" Kousen repeated, incredulously. "How are you going to steal the crystal with so many people out there? We want this to be as clean as possible!"

"Oh Kousen," Hatusgoori drawled, flicking her hair over her shoulder. "You know how much I love an audience." Kousen rolled her eyes again as she realized Hatsugoori was right. She also knew that if she hung around the ice princess any longer that her eyes would be permanently stuck in the back of her head from her rolling them so much. Just as she was about to make a snide remark, Hatsugoori started speaking again.

"Besides. If this Ayakami person doesn't have a crystal, there's a big chance that someone in the audience might. Plus, what better way do you know to lure out these Sailor Senshi other than having a mass group of people in distress?"

Kousen could do nothing but blink at her partner. _Hatsugoori actually had an intelligent_ _thought??_ The thought alone was mind boggling. Playing with her hot red ponytail in slight distress, Kousen nodded slowly. "…I see your point."

Nodding sharply, Hatsugoori began to saunter away from Kousen. "I thought you would". Pulling her hair back up into it's bun, the blue haired assassin turned and smiled at her comrade. "Come Kousen. Let the games begin."

* * *

"Guys! Isn't this amazing?!" Usagi whispered to her friends. The rock-pra was in the middle of the second of four acts, and the girls were absolutely floored. Throughout the course of the acts, the audience were amazed by the pyrotechnics (especially Rei) , lasers, elaborate set design, and most importantly , the awesome singing of the lead girl, Phenom. Usagi already had thoughts of getting the soundtrack as soon as she woke up the next day.

"It sure is Usagi-chan," Andrea whispered back. "I'm so glad we got tickets!"

"SHHHHHH!!!" everyone around them admonished. Both girls slunk lower in their seats, chagrined.

"Gomen nasai."

Makoto giggled as the girls looked positively put out. "It's ok, guys," she whispered. "Everyone else is enjoying the show too. Right Mina…ko??"

The brunette halted mid sentence as she turned towards her other blonde friend. Said blonde's eyes were glued to the stage, huge stars plastered in them. It was a well known fact that Aino Minako wanted to be a famous idol one day, and no doubt she was staring at that stage envisioning herself in Phenom's shoes. Turning back to Usagi and Andrea, Makoto whispered, "I think she agrees."

"SHHHH!" Rei whispered harshly, waving her hands at her friends. "It's almost intermission. Can't you pipe down for at least 10 more minutes?"

"Sorry Rei-chan," the girls muttered in unison.

Exactly ten minutes later, Phenom belted out the last notes of the act whilst singing to her would-be lover. In a flash of lasers and fog, the stage blacked out and the actors were gone. The audience applauded loudly as a sickly sweet voice came over the intercom:

"Good evening everyone! Hope you're enjoying the show! _Stop it Kousen_! We are now at intermission, which will last for at least 15 minutes. The show will resume promptly at 9:08. Hurry back!"

The audience were chatting amicably with each other, and totally missed the little quip at Kousen that Hatsugoori made. Snatching the microphone from the blue haired woman, Kousen gave her a look of pure death.

"You almost ruined it, you idiot!" she seethed. Hatsugoori sniffed haughtily and readjusted her glasses. "Well, you should have thought of that before you tried to grab the mike. I had things completely under control."

"Uh huh," Kousen gripped. "And just when are you going to implement your little plan?"

Hatsugoori smiled evilly. "As soon as the curtains rise." Kousen scratched her head. "I thought you said that you were gonna do it at intermission?" Hatsugoori shrugged. "Changed my mind. Figured that more people would be in their seats when the show began again rather than at intermission. I want as many viewers, er, victims as possible."

Kousen blinked at Hatsugoori. _Well_, she thought. _That's two good ideas in one night. Maybe I'm not giving the girl enough credit_.

"If you'll excuse me, Kousen, I have to get ready for my debut." With that, Hatsugoori turned and headed toward the dressing rooms. Kousen didn't feel like a witty retort, so she set about looking for a good hiding place…and a good place to watch the show.


	7. Chapter Six

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_**Title:**_ Lost in the Sea of Serenity: An Altered Destiny

**_Author:_** S Dot Serenity

**_Disclaimer:_** No good people, I don't own Sailor Moon. But Good Selenity I wish I did!**

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**Chapter 6**

Out in the audience, Usagi and her friends stood up and stretched. "What a spectacular first half," Ami said, eyes dancing. "It sure was," Usagi agreed. "But I could sure go for a snack."

"Figures," Rei muttered. Usagi just cut her eyes at her. Turning toward her new friend, she said, "Andrea-chan, would you like to go get a snack with me?" "Sure," the foreigner said. "But why don't we all go? I know everyone needs to stretch their legs." "Sounds like a plan," Minako said.

Andrea turned towards Motoki and Reika who were chatting amongst themselves. "Would you guys like anything?" Reika, who was giggling at something Motoki said, turned towards the girl. "No thanks," she replied. "Toki-chan and I'll just stay here and watch the seats." Andrea nodded, and led the way to the refreshment bar with the other girls following behind.

* * *

Hatsugoori sighed impatiently and looked at Kousen again. The fire warrior had gone about ignoring the girl again, and was lazily picking at her security uniform. It seemed that Hatsugoori had lost her patience five minutes into intermission, and started pacing back and forth. Knowing that paying her any attention would force an unwanted conversation or argument, Kousen just decided to keep to herself. Hatsugoori on the other hand could care less. Her patience was wearing thin, and she needed someone to complain to. Kousen just happened to be the closest target.

"Hasn't it been 15 minutes yet?" she whined, stopping in front of Kousen. Picking up an errant magazine from next to her, Kousen replied in a bored tone, "It hasn't even been ten."

Hatsugoori threw up her hands in exasperation. "Why is time passing so slowly? I just wanna drain the little brat on go on about my business!!" Kousen heard a slight movement and looked up from her magazine, staring pointedly past Hatsugoori. The 'stage manager' saw her stare and turned to see two stage hands eyeing the pair with wide eyes, obviously overhearing the conversation. Hatsugoori, for her part, was in no mood to stay in character for these lowlifes.

"What are you looking at?!" she snapped. "Keep it moving!" At her venomous tone, the stage hands scurried off. When they were gone, Kousen turned back to her magazine, saying, "You really should watch the volume Hatsu dear. You wouldn't want to give yourself away."

"I'd rather give somebody frostbite." the put out self proclaimed princess mumbled. She sat in silence for about three seconds, then walked up to Kousen again.

"What time is it now?"

"One minute after the last time you asked me."

"Damn it all!!"

"There's just so much to choose from!" Usagi exclaimed happily as she surveyed the contents of the snack bar. The rest of the girls had already gotten what they desired and let Usagi go last as they knew that she'd take the longest. It was obviously a blessing and a curse. They were right to let her go last, as she _was_ taking the longest, but she was also created a mild annoyance in the patrons behind her.

"_Usagi_," Rei hissed in her ear as the blonde continued to drool. "Will you pick something already? There are other people in line, you know."

"Yeah," Makoto murmured as she glanced at the line. "And they don't look too happy."

Sure enough, people in line could be seen glancing at their watches or sending chilling looks Usagi's way. The blonde obviously didn't care as she was eyeing a particularly tasty looking double fudge chocolate chip cookie.

Always a stickler for professionalism, Ami kept looking at her watch. "Usagi, there are only five minutes left to intermission. I highly suggest choosing something, _now_." The bluenette advised.

Finally seeming to come to a conclusion, Usagi tried to flag down the snack bar attendant who had long ago chosen to take a seat and catch up on some light reading when he realized that the odango haired one was going to be a minute. Sighing, he put the book away and sauntered up to the girl, forcing a smile upon his face.

"What can I get for you ma'am?"

Usagi smiled and said, "Do you have anymore cookies in the back because there's only one out here and it's kinda small and I really wanted two?" The customers behind her groaned as they heard her request, as did her friends. Andrea just hid a smile behind her hand. It was all pretty amusing to her. The attendant on the other hand didn't find it amusing at all though, as his smile dropped and he turned toward the back grumbling out, "I'll go and check." Yes, he could have easily said no, to get things moving, but he somehow knew that if he had, she'd have taken another 10 minutes to decide on something else. He just prayed to all the Kami he knew that there would be a cookie back there.

"Arrgh!" Hatsugoori cried out in frustration. Her partner in crime just rolled her eyes as she turned yet another page of her magazine.

"I am SO sick of waiting! What time is it now?"

Eyes never leaving her page, Kousen merely glanced at the watch on her wrist. She glanced twice when she saw what time it was.

Putting her magazine down and standing, Kousen replied, "Well you're in luck Hatsu. Intermission will be over in about two minutes."

"Wonderful!" Hatsugoori said, grinning evilly. Snapping her fingers, a blizzard formed around her and changed her stage manager's get up into her assassin's fuku. "Let's get this party started, shall we?"

Just as Kousen opened her mouth to reply, her eyes narrowed over Hatsugoori's shoulder. Whirling around to see what the fire brat was looking at, Hatsugoori's gaze settled on the same two stage hands that she had startled before. Unfortunately for them, they had seen Hatsugoori's transformation. Standing there with eyes wide and mouths agape, the two poor stage hands started trembling when they saw Hatsugoori's lip curl in disgust.

"I thought I told you to get lost?!" the blue haired woman snapped. Coming slightly out of his stupor, stage hand number one stuttered, "Wh-What are you?"

Rolling her eyes and mumbling, "I don't have time for this", Hatsugoori flicked her wrist, and before the two men could scream, they were frozen solid.

Walking over to her new 'creations', Hatsugoori appraised them slowly. "Hmmmm," she murmured. They were eerily beautiful. Gleaming a brilliant ice blue, and reflecting specs of rainbow colored light, Hatsugoori had caught the anguished, horrified looks on the men perfectly. "I _do_ need some more centerpieces for my garden. "What do you think, Kousen?"

Standing with her hand on her hips, she eyed the statues wearily. Why did the ice princess always seem to leave a mess wherever she went? Pinching the bridge of her nose, Kousen sighed. "Don't care." She replied. "Just do something before someone sees you."

Hatsugoori nodded and for a split second her eyes shone a brilliant white. A deathly cold portal opened up behind the two statues. Kousen's eyes went wide and she jumped back from the portal, rubbing her arms vigorously. "Hey! _Warn_ somebody before you go opening up your Winter Wonderland! Damn it, that's cold."

Hatsugoori merely rolled her eyes. "Really, Kousen," She drawled. "You're the fire assassin. Shouldn't you have internal heaters or something?" Before Kousen could come up with a retort, Hatsugoori pushed the frozen statues and watched as they swirled away into the wintry abyss. Her task done, she closed the portal with another flick of her wrist and turned towards the stage.

"Come Kousen," she called. "My five minutes of fame awaits!"

Mumbling Solarian curses under her breath, the slightly chilled fire assassin followed reluctantly behind.

Rei's head whipped around. Eyes narrowing dangerously, she tried to concentrate on the feeling of a raw, yet familiar power boost near by. Again, it was gone as soon as it had come, but Rei knew it was there. She also knew that it shouldn't be ignored. Looking around at the others, Rei saw Andrea staring in the same direction. The girl obviously felt Rei's stare and turned to look at her. Rei was slightly taken aback when she saw an unfamiliar emotion flicker across the foreigner's eyes. Deciding to store that little bit of info for later, she turned to her friends.

"Hey guys," she began, but was cut off by the signal letting everyone know that intermission was over. The people in line behind Usagi groaned angrily and shot the oblivious blonde menacing looks, before turning and heading toward the theater. Makoto and Mina moved slightly closer to Usagi in case things got ugly. Usagi for her part, didn't care as she was happily munching on the cookie the distressed attendee had given her.

Chuckling wearily, Makoto regarded her group of friends. "Well guys," she said, gesturing back towards the auditorium. "Shall we?"

"Yea, let's go before someone decides to seek vengeance for their rumbly tummies," Minako said with a slight giggle, as she tailed the group.

Giving the mirror backstage one final wink, Ayakami took a deep breath and walked on stage to await the drawing of the curtain.

Giving Kousen one final glare, Hatsugoori glided to the edge of the stage and quickly transformed back into her stage manger outfit.

Resisting the urge of giving Hatsugoori the finger, Kousen took her place in a back corner of a wing, to watch the madness that was sure to ensue.

Ayakami turned to the wings to see the stage manager there, beaming at her happily. She just _knew_ that she had felt something just then…only she didn't know _what_. Just that it was…powerful? _Hm_, she surmised, _Best to forget it_. She tried to tune out the amicable chatter of everyone returning to their seats in order to focus on the next act. The first one had gone splendidly, and she hoped to max out everyone's expectations with the next.

Hearing the announcer call for the start of the show, and the wild applause of the people, Ayakami took her pose, and Hatsugoori all but trembled with excitement.

"Hurry up and sit down, Minako! It's starting!" Makoto hissed at her friend, as she tried to push her into her seat. Getting through a disgruntled, hungry crowd had been harder than they had originally thought, especially with an oblivious blonde leading the way. Now they were just trying not to miss the opening note.

"I'm going, I'm going…" Minako said, sliding into her seat. She looked curiously up at Andrea, who had yet to take her seat. "C'mon Andrea-chan," she said, pulling her new friend by the arm. With one final, slow look behind her, Andrea acquiesced.

"Yay! The curtains are opening!" Usagi sang, as she wiped brushed invisible crumbs off of her dress.

"Yeah, and hopefully we can get through this half without _someone_ having something to say every five minutes," Rei said pointedly, looking at Minako and Usagi. The two blondes just stuck their tongues out at the priestess.

Seeing this, Andrea leaned over and stage whispered to Makoto, "Are they always like this?" Makoto giggled and nodded. "Only when they're awake." Rei heard her, but just chose to leave her comment for later as the audience exploded in applause for Ayakami.

Taking that as her cue, Ayakami set her face to the most lovelorn face that she could muster, and opened her mouth. Out of it came the purest note that anyone in the audience had ever heard in their lives. A hush came over the crowd as Ayakami had them eating out of the palm of her hand.

"Whoa," Reika breathed as she snuggled closer to Motoki. "Ditto," the girls and he answered. Usagi suddenly felt a small pang of pity for the girl that Ayakami sung about. The girl was madly in love with a guy that wouldn't give her the time of day, only because he believed a lie that his friend had told about her betraying him, when in all actuality, he wanted her for himself. Timeless situation, but sad nonetheless. And the way that Ayakami sang was so heart-wrenchingly beautiful, that Usagi wanted to march right up to the guy that Ayakami a.k.a. Roxie in the performance, loved, and shake some sense into him. But, she had more sense than that.

A certain blue haired villain did not, however. She stood on the makeshift balcony on stage, waiting for the perfect chance to make her debut. Her long suffering partner stood below her, just behind the wing trying not to pull her hair out. She knew that it would be so much simpler for the two of them to wait until the Ayakami girl came off stage, jump her, and grab the crystal if it was there. But, _no_. The blue haired twit wanted to be difficult and expose herself to everyone on stage and take hostages.

Kousen glared at the struggling teen bound and gagged by her feet. The handsome youngster was supposed to be Ayakami's love interest in the musical, but Hatsugoori had made it so that _she_ would be making the debut instead of him. _Stupid girl. Always so messy. _Kousen thought with a sneer.

The young hostage at her feet started to grunt for help, but Kousen snapped her fingers and ignited a small flame. Leaning towards him menacingly, Kousen could see the sweat bead on his forehead. "If I were you, I wouldn't make a sound unless the prospect of being slow roasted over an open flame is appealing to you." The guy whimpered in response and immediately passed out.

_Stupid, weak humans. _Kousen thought as she blew out the flame. Glancing up at Hatsugoori, she hissed telepathically, "Hurry up, will ya?"

Oblivious to what was going on backstage, Ayakami strode over to the balcony on stage, still singing her heart out, supposedly looking for her love. As she sang the last note, she looked up at the balcony, hoping to catch a glimpse of her 'man'. The audience held it's breath, waiting to see exactly who Ayakami was pouring her heart out to.

When nothing happened for about a minute, Ayakami started to worry, and tried to fix her mind around how to set things right. Just as the cogs in her brain started turning, the fake balcony doors slid open amidst a gale of smoke. Ayakami relaxed instantly, rejoiced to know that the show continued. _They probably had a glitch in the system or something. _She thought to herself. _Hey, is this smoke…cold?_

The audience was on the edge of their seat to see this heartthrob…and were utterly confused as a blue haired female strode out of the shadows, beaming at the crowd. A collective gasp swept through the patrons.

"What the heck?" Minako asked, outraged. "That was totally supposed to be a mega hot guy!"

"Somehow," Ami said slowly, "I don't think that this is a part of the show."

Ayakami stared up at the woman shocked. No, this was most definitely _not_ a part of the show. Was that her stage manager?!

"Uh, what's going on?" she hissed at the woman, hoping beyond hope that she would hear her.

"Why, whatever do you mean, dear?" Hatsugoori purred while shaking out her hair and winking at the audience. The men in the audience immediately took notice and started whistling. Motoki had to bite his tongue and force a look of confusion upon his face. You'd have to be _blind_ to not think that the mysterious woman was anything but gorgeous. But you'd have to be incredibly stupid to show _any_ bit of attraction to _any_ woman with your girlfriend sitting by your side. Especially one who owns a variety of archaeology picks. Very _sharp _archaeology picks.

Loving every minute of the men's appraisal, Hatsugoori continued. "We're here to put on a show right?" Looking out to the audience she added, "After all, that's what you came here for correct?" At the crowd of men's whistles and calls, Hatsugoori giggled. Ayakami was pole axed. She looked out at the audience, then back at her stage manager_. If she could even still be called that._ The woman was waving and winking, and primping and priming as if she didn't have a care in the world. And Ayakami _knew_ something wasn't right.

"What are you doing here? Where's Miyoshi?" Hatsugoori looked at the superstar like she suddenly remembered her being there. "Oh, him? He's kind of…tied up at the moment. But don't worry," Hatsugoori looked at her with a predatory grin, that made Ayakami involuntarily take a step back. "He's not needed." With that, Hatsugoori took a step back, and made a flying leap off of the balcony to land right in front of Ayakami. The audience, thinking that it really was a part of the show applauded heavily at the assassin's stunt.

Usagi and the other girls watched warily. Suddenly, this didn't seem like a bizarre plot twist anymore…

Ayakami's hands flew to her chest. _That leap was impossible, _she thought wildly. _There aren't any wires set up for aerial stunts!_

Hatsugoori took one look at the doubt and confusion clouding Ayakami's face and smiled. Some things were just too easy. Flicking her hair over her shoulder, she gazed out to the audience. "Like I said," she said loudly. "Miyoshi is not needed. We have all the show we need, right _here_."

That said, Hatsugoori snapped her fingers and instantly her whirlwind of snow and ice showered around her, changing her back to her original form. "After all," she finished, as the blood drained from Ayakami's face. "The show must go on!" The audience exploded in applause as the idiots lapped it up. "That was amazing!" someone shouted. Luckily, the thunderous applause drowned out the collective gasp from the senshi and friends.

"Guys! It's that ice creep from before!" Came Usagi's muffled cry from behind her hands. The Senshi all nodded in agreement, and abruptly looked towards the exits.

"We have to get out of here so we can transform!" Rei whispered. "But what about everyone in here?" Makoto responded. "We can't leave them alone for even a second with that psycho! And what about Andrea-chan? I'm sure she'll be suspicious if the five of us suddenly disappear!"

The other Senshi cringed. They had forgotten about their flabbergasted friend. They looked her way and saw a strange look in her eyes. "Guys," she started weakly. "I don't think this is a good thing. Look at Ayakami."

Par her instructions, the girls all looked at the orange headed superstar, and saw the look of pure horror on her face, and a grim look of determination set upon their faces. Getting impatient, Rei looked towards the exits again. "We can't keep sitting here!" she seethed in a heated whisper. The girls nodded, but Usagi pointed towards the stage. "They're talking again."

Indeed, Hatsugoori had turned back to Ayakami with an icy smile. "As for you," she said. "You have something I want." Taking another step back, Ayakami shakily asked, "Wha-What's that?"

"Oh," Hatsugoori said as she began to hover in mid-air. "Only the very thing that makes you, you! Your-" Hatsugoori didn't get to finish her speech, because Ayakami had taken off in a dead sprint. Hatsugoori sighed. _Why do they always run?_

Winding up, Hatsugoori flung her arms forward and sent a sheet of ice Ayakami's way. With surprising agility, Ayakami skidded out of the way. Hatsugoori blinked. _Now how'd she do that?_ She wondered. Shaking her head, she sent out another sheet, which Ayakami avoided yet again. Hatsugoori huffed. This was getting tedious.

The audience had by this time realized that it wasn't part of the show, and started screaming and scrambling for the exits. The senshi took it for what it was and scrambled to the exits as well. As Motoki and Reika passed Minako for she had fallen back, she whispered to them, "Take Andrea and keep her safe!" Motoki nodded his understanding, and he and Reika caught up to where the foreigner was, and barely skidded out of the doors before they slammed shut, right in the girls' faces.

Backstage, Kousen noticed that things were indeed getting slightly, messy. _Just as I thought._ Peeking out around the curtain, she saw all of the musical's patrons running for their lives. "Can't have potential crystal holders getting away now, can we?" she whispered to herself.

Gesturing a hand towards the exit doors, Kousen heated the exit bars to an excruciating level. She grinned as she heard the yelps of pain from people that touched the bars. The men started to ram into the door, trying to break it down. Kousen scoffed. "No you don't," she drawled as she concentrated and melted the hinges and locks of the doors, effectively molding them shut. Satisfied with her work, and the sounds of desperation from the audience, Kousen turned to survey Hatsugoori's work.

The girl was getting nowhere fast. She had already frozen the entire stage, and had yet to catch Ayakami. "Slippery brat, isn't she?" Kousen mumbled. The red head saw the superstar heading straight for her wing and chuckled. Throwing up a hand, she threw a burst of heat and flame towards Ayakami but barely touching her, causing her to jump back in fright. Shimmering out before Ayakami could see her, Kousen relocated to the other wing.

Hatsugoori was reaching the end of her limits. The darn girl was more slippery than a greased pig! "How the hell do you keep dodging my attacks?!" the assassin screamed at the terrified teen.

Ayakami, for her part, was indeed terrified. This crazy blue haired freak was trying to turn her into a Popsicle, and somehow, she was almost a scorch mark on the floor! She couldn't for the life of her figure out what the witch wanted, as she dodged another attack. Nor could she figure out how she was still dodging those attacks for that matter.

Realizing that she had no where else to run, and completely tuning out the audiences cries for help, Ayakami was at a standstill. She could jump off stage, but that would be certain injury in the orchestra pit below. She couldn't very well run with a broken leg! She was still looking around for a way out when she heard a low growl behind her.

* * *

"Dammit!" Makoto cursed. She rubbed her throbbing shoulder as she realized the doors wouldn't budge. "What now?!"

"I don't know, but we have to get out of here and get these people out fast," Mina surmised, looking around at all the scrambling people looking for a way out. Some brave souls had actually run toward the stage to find a exit, but had been blown back by large bursts of flame. Those few lay unconscious on the floor. Ami had gone over with another doctor in the crowd to survey the damages.

"At least Andrea-chan, Motoki-kun, and Reika-chan got out," Usagi said gratefully. "Yeah," Rei grumbled. "I just wanna get my hands on who ever shut these doors!"

Just as Minako was about to reply, they all heard a low growl behind them. As one, everyone turned back towards the stage.

* * *

"I've had it with you, human!" Hatsugoori snarled out as her eyes began to glow a sickly white. Stretching her arms to her sides, a torrent of ice and snow began to fill the auditorium, gathering into her arms to make one massivly cold energy ball. Ayakami could do nothing but stare with wide eyes; her feet were rooted to the spot.

Once the energy ball was the size of a baby elephant, Hatsugoori screamed, "GIMME THAT CRYSTAL!" and let it fly.

Ayakami barely had time to smartly duck as the energy ball flew over her head and smashed into the far wall, leaving a huge hole. The girl only took one look towards Hatsugoori and bolted for the hole, using the ice the assassin had created as a slide to cross the orchestra pit. The audience quickly followed suit, filing out as quickly as they could, the senshi right behind them, ironically jumping through the hole just as someone asked, "Where are the Sailor Senshi when you need them?"

Minako just rolled her eyes.

Hatsugoori just stared at the hole she made, dumbfounded. Realization hit her in the head like a brick. "Shit!" she screeched as she watched everyone escape and Kousen appeared next to her in the air.

Kousen clapped sarcastically as she watched the last person hop through the wall. Amusingly, the last one flipped them off before running out. She turned a smug face to Hatsugoori, swearing she could hear her teeth grind.

"Brilliant move, princess," Kousen taunted. "You let the little brat get away." Whirling around to face her partner, eyes still glowing white, Hastsugoori growled, "Shut the hell up!" With that, she flew after her prey. Kousen chuckled and transported after her.

* * *

Ayakami didn't know where she was going, only that she had to get there _fast_. Or at least get to a really good hiding spot. One thing was for sure, she was thoroughly confused. She didn't know what crystal that _thing_ kept yelling about. Hell, at first she had thought that her stage manager had just gone loopy, but it was something far worst than that. Deranged fans she could handle, psychotic blue haired witches… not so much.

While running for her life, she came across the amusement park grounds. With the hopes of hiding within the fun house, or house of mirrors, she gratefully slipped inside.

* * *

"Did you see which was she went?" Makoto panted as she ran along side Minako. "Kinda hard to miss with that bright orange hair." Rei quipped, trailing slightly behind as she tried to sense their opponent.

"Poor girl, I bet she's scared to death!" Usagi said as she ran. "Do you think we should call the others?"

"It's always good to have backup!" Ami added as she ran along.

"Shouldn't we see if we can handle it ourselves first?" Makoto asked. "Negative," Minako said. "Don't you remember the trouble we had the last time? I'd like to avoid that at all costs if we can, thankyouverymuch."

Fishing her communicator out of her pocket, Minako quickly pushed the button for the outer senshi. After a few seconds, Michiru's head popped onto the screen. "Minako? What's wrong?" The musician asked, her tone serious.

Minako smirked, humorlessly. "Can't I just be calling to say hello?'

"Not on the communicator."

The golden haired senshi nodded. "Point taken. That blue haired creep from the last battle seems to have found a new target." Minako could have sworn she heard a very disgruntled "wonderful" in the background that sounded suspiciously like Haruka. She chose to ignore it. "We need backup at the amusement park down the street from the theater."

Michiru nodded. "We'll be there as soon as we can," she affirmed. "Neptune out."

Slightly winded, the group came to a halt in front of the amusement park. "Is this where she went?" Usagi asked, looking around to spot a familiar crop of orange hair. The group of girls started when they heard screams coming from inside of the park.

"My money's on yes," Makoto quipped, taking out her transformation wand. The others nodded, and followed suit.

"Well, so much for not having any distractions," Rei said. The others girls sighed in agreement.

"Will you stop running for one second?!" Hatsugoori huffed as she flew after Ayakami, flinging various showers of ice in her direction. By now, half the park was covered in ice by the frozen fury of the ice assassin.

"If she did, she'd be incredibly stupid. Even for a human."

Hatsugoori growled as Kousen appeared next to her. "Can it pyro!! I don't need your idiotic remarks right now! Are you just gonna stand there and observe all day?! _Do_ something!"

Kousen sighed. As much as she loved to be proven right by Hatsugoori, she hated it when a mission dragged on needlessly. "Fine. Seeing as this is my mission too, I may as well lend a hand."

Kousen glanced up to where Ayakami was seen sprinting toward the house of mirrors. _Now how cliché is that?_ She thought to herself.

Coming to rest on the ground, Kousen snapped her fingers as she glanced up at Hatsugoori. Instantly a fire ball formed in her palm. Dismissing the very pleasant thought of using the fire ball on her partner, Kousen blew on the ball, making it zoom towards Ayakami.

Ayakami shrieked as she felt the blazing ball of heat whiz past her head, barely grazing her orange mane. Said fire ball hit the ground directly in front of her, resulting in an inferno wall that sent her flying backwards. Skidding to a stop on her bottom, Ayakami quickly regained her footing and tried to run in the other direction.

"Hmmm," Kousen speculated. "Told you she was slippery!" Hatsugoori taunted. Kousen ignored her. Making a 'come here' motion with her pointer finger, Kousen's fire ball blazed to life once more. Detaching itself from the ground, it re-emerged in front of Ayakami everywhere that she happened to turn. Bewildered, the star backpedaled into a frozen popcorn stand, and went crashing to the ground with it. Looking up with mounting trepidation, she saw the ball of fire start to circle her mercilessly, forming a scorching cylinder.

Frightened, she pulled herself up to a sitting position, and hugged her legs to her chest. Burying her head into her arms, she cried out, "Please! Leave me alone! I don't have what you want!"

Put out at the way Kousen handled Ayakami, and the smug looks in her direction, Hatsugoori marched toward Ayakami with pure malice in her eyes. "Yeah well, I'll be the judge of that."

Stooping down, Hatsugoori peered at the shaking girl through the rings of fire. "Pathetic," she whispered, with an evil grin on her face. "Sitting here whimpering, all because you're encased by fire. Trust me rock star, I've been in tougher situations, and I still held my head high. Where's all of that spunk of yours now?"

Ayakami didn't answer. She just raised her eyes to meet Hatsugoori's. The assassin reared back slightly in shock to see not the placid, azure eyes of Ayakami, but a stranger's eyes that shone a bright red in indignation. She whipped around to see if her fiery partner had noticed, but saw that she didn't, as she just kept making circling motions in the air to keep the cyclone going.

Hatsugoori turned back around to see that Ayakami's eyes had once again returned to normal, but not before she saw a flash of something appear on the girl's forehead before it quickly faded out. "What the hell," she whispered to herself.

"That's what I'd like to know!" Kousen yelled. "Would you please hurry this up?"

Hatsugoori shook herself out of her stupor, and jumped back about ten feet. Kousen took this as her cue and dropped the fire ring. Ayakami immediately noticed the lack of heat, and her head shot up in curiosity. Before she could even think about running, she heard a call of "Koori no hime!"

The rock star's eyes immediately closed against the onslaught of ice cold winds that threatened to consume her. When her eyes opened, she saw that she was still sitting on the ground, but was now completely covered in ice from the neck down. Lips quivering from the cold and the fear, she looked up into the faces of her attackers. Deciding that Kousen was the most frightening of the two, she turned toward her and asked, "What are you going to do with me?"

Kousen barked out a laugh. "Ha! _I'm _not going to do anything." She pointed to her fellow Daughter of the Sun. "She is."

As soon as the words left her mouth, a wintry worp-hole appeared next to Hatsugoori. Ayakami watched with wide eyes as a shape slowly emerged from the worphole, and sloshed onto the ground. Ayakami shuddered at the sickening 'plop' it made on the ground in front of her. Kousen couldn't have agreed more.

The shape was nothing more than a gray blob of…something. There were no defining features, no eyes, no mouth, no anything. It sure didn't look like it could do any damage, and Kousen has always been one to voice her concerns.

"Hatsugoori, what _is _that?"

The self proclaimed princess just looked down her nose at Ayakami, ignoring Kousen's outburst. "This," she said, gesturing towards the blob, "Is Morphina." Kousen just looked at the blob, bewildered, and slightly grossed out. And she thought she knew all of the Queen's minions!

"Don't ask questions Kousen, just watch,"

Glaring at the blob in front of the frazzled rock star, Hatsugoori's eyes shone a brilliant white. "Morphina," she commanded in an eerily calm voice. "Arise."

On her command, the blob slowly started to bubble. Kousen reared back in disgust. In a matter of seconds, the blob changed into a relatively humanoid figure, and just stood there. Kousen and Ayakami blinked.

"That's it?"

Hatsugoori stamped her foot in frustration. "I said JUST WATCH!" Kousen held up her hands in defense. "Okay, okay."

As Ayakami looked at the now humanoid blob, it began to change…again. Starting at the feet, or where two feet should have been, colors began to take form. In an eerily fascinating dance, colors flashed all over its body as certain features began to form. Seconds later, Ayakami gasped as she stared face to face with a complete replica of herself.

Kousen nodded in appreciation. "Well. That's kinda cool." She turned towards Hatsugoori. "But what's the point? It just looks like her." Hatsugoori fixed her hair and smoothed invisible wrinkles from her fuku. "The creature is not for _her_," she quipped. Kousen's brow wrinkled. "Then who is it for then?" Just as the word 'then' fell from her rosy red lips, the pair heard a distinct cry from behind them.

"Hold it right there!"

Hatsugoori smiled and put her hands on her hips.

"Them."


End file.
